


Insincerely, M. Andrew

by Me_Being_Difficult



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betaed, Did I say 25k? I meant 30k, Kevin is done with everything, M/M, MCs are ooc because I changed their backstory, Neil is a student, Now it's a 25k monster, POV Andrew Minyard, Pen Enemies AU, Set in first book, This was supposed to be 10k fluff, but not by much, canon warnings apply, inspired by a tumblr post, secret identity?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Me_Being_Difficult/pseuds/Me_Being_Difficult
Summary: Just because Andrew is responding positively to therapy and is not fully drugged anymore, does not mean he suddenly started to care about Exy. Andrew thought it only bothered Kevin. But apparently not.One 'not a fan' of his has started to send him detailed mails about everything he does wrong on the court with scathing commentary on how he can improve it. And Andrew finds it just amusing enough that he started to reply.On the other hand, there's a hot brunet Freshman Andrew can't stop seeing everywhere.
Relationships: Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Seth Gordon/Allison Reynolds
Comments: 184
Kudos: 407





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a Pen Enemy AU idea I saw for Sokka and Zuko from Avatar The Last Airbender. I started with the intention of exploring this idea for 2-3k words. 10k later, I finally asked for a beta to help me wrap up. But she was just the worst kind of enabler, ugh with her kind words and enthusiastic comments and keysmashes. Thank you so much andreils-bitch! Go check her out on tumblr!!  
> So now this grew to 25k and counting.  
> But I'm almost done so updates should be regular.  
> The work is pretty fluffy in the beginning except for some coarse language. Canon typical warnings apply however for the later parts. That's why the mature rating. I will add warnings at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Bold is the anonymous mail sender, italics is Andrew
> 
> Leave a kudos and comment if you like!

Nobody would ever know, but Andrew spent some time these days at the library. Between gym and practice he didn’t get much free time but he still spent it in the library. Not for studying, he did bare minimum assignments and he had picked the kind of subjects that had less assignments or essays and more practicals and fact based exams. In fact, he had covered his sociology and other bullshit theory papers in his first year. He had no need to spend time sitting in a strategic corner of the library.

But he does go to the library whenever he can, sitting at a corner of the library, his back to a wall, laptop in front of him and throwing careful glances at a certain brunet boy. ‘For pure aesthetic reasons,’ he would’ve said had anybody bothered to ask. But no one did, not even Renee. 

It was not Andrew’s style to check out a guy with no further intention. It was a waste of his and the other boy’s time. His fling with Roland was pretty satisfying and honestly it wasn’t like Andrew was looking for anything substantial. And who was this guy even?

Okay so Andrew knew his name (Neil) and his major (Sports Science. Not on any team tho. Why not? He looks fit…) and that he lives on campus in House B (One of the newer additions for the freshman students, ugly ass building) and that he comes to every single home game and open practices. It was an accident when Andrew first saw him in the library but it was like he couldn’t stop noticing the guy after.

What Andrew didn’t know was if he swung his way or what he sounded like or how he looked when he smiled or if he hung out anywhere except the library. All the important things one must know before making moves on a person. So. For now, Andrew was content watching. 

Hot Brunet Neil shifted in his seat and looked up. With great effort, Andrew managed not to zip his head down and look guilty. Instead he met his eye for an appropriate second before slowly looking at his screen. He had his college mail open. His Problems in Correction Professor had once again mailed him a summer internship at a Pro-Bono law firm that would be ‘really good’ for his profile. Andrew scoffed and went into the spam folder. As one of the best performing Goalies of College level Exy he received a few fan mails, mostly from the other students here as they had access to his publicly available college id. But there was one mail from a personal id, sent just 5 minutes ago whose subject simply read- ‘You suck.’

Against his better judgement, Andrew opened the mail. It was a short mail but it was filled with scathing commentary on his last week’s performance in a neat bullet point format. Nothing else. No personal insults. It was like listening to Wymack after the practice but 10 times more sarcastic and pointed. 

There was the last point that amused Andrew the most-

  * ******I know those wide, sweater stretching shoulders are a requirement to haul the goalkeeper racket around but ever heard of a leg day? Doing a little cardio never hurt anybody.**



**Sincerely,**

**A person who’d like to be your fan**

To be fair, Andrew thought about it. He even drummed his fingers on the table. But he was fighting a lost battle. He knew he was going to revert back as soon as he had read the subject title. Kevin would yell at him, if he knew. He looked at the mail id. It read abramhw@gmail.com.

_Dear asshole,_

_I’m not a believer, but it would be a judgement day before you see me go running. Either you are an Exy freak fat bastard who lives in his mom’s basement obsessively watching teenage college kids run around on court or you copied off Wymack’s postgame notes and made them hateful. Congrats._

_Insincerely,_

_M Andrew_

He sent the mail without thinking twice about it and sat back with something like glee. And then just because he was extra bored, he took picture of both mails and sent it on the fox’s group chat. He had it on mute ever since he was added but sometimes it was useful. Andrew could almost visualise Kevin frothing at his mouth.

But then he realised that he willingly posted something on the team’s chat. He replied to a troll. He was sitting in a library looking at his mail. What the fuck was he doing. 

In the periphery he saw Neil also getting up and hurrying out of the library. Andrew hadn’t even paid attention to the reason he was here in the last 10 minutes. He felt a surge of anger over him and he too left immediately to smoke on the roof.

…

Andrew couldn’t sleep that night. Which was for the better because Kevin felt like practicing that night and they both were off to the court. Andrew had thrown a cursory glance at the group chat that had exploded after he had sent the photos but besides a single ‘what?’ Kevin hadn’t said anything more. Andrew knew, he knew he was going to get lectured in the court and if it wasn’t for the promise he had made he wouldn’t have touched the live wire that was Kevin with a 10 foot pole.

Kevin started off slow, “I know I don’t need to tell you about online security and trolls but it was very irresponsible of you to reply to that person. There are many ways a person can-“

“I was bored,” Andrew replied.

“You’re always bored. Plus why haven’t you filtered out these spam messages? I can show you how to do that; I get a ton of mail-“

“It was in the spam folder. Kevin, stop talking.”

“You willingly went into the spam folder? Jesus Andrew, if I had as much free time as you apparently do-“

“Kevin I will kick you out of the car, you can walk the rest of the way.”

“You can walk with me? We can jog to the court, apparently you need some leg days.”

“That’s it, out.” Andrew stopped the car and opened the door on Kevin’s side.

“What seriously dude? You’re gonna drive off?” Kevin was scoffing but there was a tinge of fear. 

“No, you’re gonna walk and I’m going to drive on the side.”

Kevin scoffed again but Andrew stayed true to his words. It took them 10 minutes extra and they received a lot of stares from late night campus roamers. It surely became the stuff of gossip the next day; Exy Star Kevin Day morosely walking through the campus at midnight and the mad midget’s car slowly driving by him. Andrew thought he even saw Hot Brunet Neil looking at them but that might just be him projecting on every short brunet figure. (Another thing that appealed to Andrew, Neil was pretty short. Just an inch or two taller than him.)

Almost against his will Andrew checked his mail twice in the next 24 hours. Renee very casually asked if she could help him form a reply the next time abramwh replies. “You can’t censor my swear words,” Andrew warned and Renee agreed. It didn’t happen.

Andrew didn’t get a reply until after their next open practice in between the games. That was a new initiative the board made Wymack do. Because the Foxes mostly stuck with each other and didn’t have many friends or contact with the rest of the student body, the Board felt they must do something to foster more connection between the team and the students. So they made Wymack keep a certain number of open practices where anybody who had a campus pass could come and watch the practice. Wymack didn’t think it would work or anybody would show up. But he didn’t realise that The Foxes had an air of mystery around them. They were the exclusive club nobody wanted to be a part of but everybody wanted access to.

A fair crowd always turned up to see Kevin obviously. There were also many Dan fans; a surprising number of guys. People turned up to see Allison, the perfect princess. Cheerleading practices were always kept before their practices so after they finished some of them would hang back. That Katelyn girl and her friends would sit and often giggle. There was also an entertainment value in the fights that occurred many times. Andrew wished he didn’t notice but Neil was there, in the top most bleacher. He had some book in his lap. Was he studying here? How funny would it be if he just abandoned his post, walked up to him and asked him that? He almost did it before something distracted him.

Seth and the newest striker Jack started fighting near the goalpost over something petty and irritated, Andrew poked them with his racket. Seth barked something foul at him but Andrew poked until they were away from the goal line. They didn’t dare start a fight with Andrew. Then he went back and just sat down. 

The ball whizzed past him and the goalpost lighted red. Andrew didn’t move. The strikers kept scoring and it kind of became a new challenge to hit with such precision that you won’t touch the big block in the middle of the goal that was Andrew. There was laughter and some booing from the audience. Wymack looked up from the pad he was holding, had the same thought as all his players had and went back to the notepad.

It was comical how big an error of margin Jack was trying to keep, not hitting Andrew. None of his goals came even close to the goalpost. Kevin was the only one who scored unerringly each time. Seth tried and got only one, barely coming in the goalpost.

Around 2 am, Andrew’s phone pinged. Abramwh had sent him an email. It was longer than last time and yet again it was a scathing critique of his today’s performance, once again in bullet point. There was no reply or rebuttal to Andrew’s mail. It was as if he never got it. The only acknowledgment came in the signing off of the mail-

**Sincerely,**

**Fat bastard who watches teenage kids.**

Andrew just replied in capital letters:

_PEDOPHILE PEDOPHILE PEDOPHILE. PEDOPHILE PEDOPHILE PEDOPHILE._

_Wait, Drake is that you?_

It was late and Andrew was really tired and he didn’t realise what he had sent until next morning’s breakfast. But as Andrew expected, no reply came.

The next game was an away game. The foxes lost. Kevin was sulking. Nicky was sulking even more because he caused an error that allowed the other team to score the winning goal. Dan, Renee and Matt were comforting him. Andrew wondered if they would comfort him had he bothered to show any emotion. For the first time in a long time, Andrew didn’t like how he played today. He hadn’t really bothered much during the game. But afterwards a hollow feeling settled in his guts that replayed every misstep he took which he was sure was going to be artfully described by abramwh.

Thanks to Bee’s recommendation, since the beginning of this school year Andrew was slowly off the drugs due to exemplary progress he had shown. If Andrew lived his life in constant Mania before, now he lived in constant withdrawal. It took very clever timing and dosage amounts to stop the shaking when he was out and about but when he played, he was completely off the drugs. Withdrawal always hit him harder when he played and it stayed till he took his dosage before sleeping. 

If he didn’t hate losing his consciousness around other people he would’ve taken his drugs right there and fallen asleep on the bus. But he fought it and grew more and more cranky. 

A ping went off. Andrew’s mood simultaneously improved and worsened. He suspected he was going to develop a Pavlovian Response to games and open practices now. Damn psychology.

There was no greeting as usual. 

The mail began with-

  * ******You need some serious cardio. Or more sleep. How are you more tired in the actual games than you are in open practices? Were you moving through water?**
  * ******At 5 m 34 seconds, Roger Bedford No 8 feinted, scoring to your left so obviously even the astronauts from the space saw it. Perhaps you were resting your eyes?**
  * ******At 12 m 02 seconds the Terrapins performed an ice fortress play. Terrapins do not usually perform it but it definitely wasn’t the first time they did. In fact the next team you’ll be playing is known to use it like it’s their personal dishrag. I trust all you buffoons can manage to remember this simple fact?**
  * ******I’m gonna have to point you towards Kellen McEll play, aren’t I? That’s not as effective as Brian Lutz play against Ice Fortress but it’s lesser known. You can surprise them. No team expects you to do anything worthwhile but if you manage to play without sabotaging your own team like Nicholas Hemmick did tonight, I figure would be enough of a surprise.**



**Sincerely,**

**Definitely not Drake (Keep self and the loved ones away from him)**

  1. **S. That save on 7 m 18 seconds was nothing short of brilliant though. Perhaps you were done resting your eyes.**



**P.P.S. To be eligible for the lovingly chanted Pedophile title, I’d have to be significantly older. I’m your age.**

Andrew replied.

_You are a signifi-cunt._

A minute later, Andrew replied again.

_’ll add more when I can think of someyhing better. M tired nuw_

To Andrew’s surprise, a quick reply came.

 **This wouldn’t happen if you increase your stamina. You never come in during the second half.**

_That’s what she said._

_Or he said._

_Eh_

**Very mature. Also very predictable. Keep it like that, you’re going to lose the next match and be out of the Championship.**

Andrew frowned. He sat up straighter. 

_Are you capable of thinking of anything besides Exy?_

**Why would I say anything besides exy to you? We are not friends.**

_I’m very fortunate to have a fan like you._

**I’m not your fan. I just can’t see you squander away every opportunity you get to play on the court.**

_You did say in your first mail that you’d like to be my fan, tho._

.

.

**Remember that, do you? Why, did you go over all my mails and read them every day? I’m touched.**

Andrew considered not telling him, but that would be like accepting that he read his mails more than once. Because realistically, he had no business remembering something written more than 2 weeks ago.

_I just so happen to have a good memory. I remember stuff once I read it. Answer my question. Do you or do you not want to be my fan?_

**I don’t think that’s something you have any control over.**

Andrew was about to reply when the bus stopped. They were back at Palmetto. He didn’t realise how the time flew. Tucking the phone in his back pocket, he got off the bus, collected his monsters and trudged up to their rooms. This game, Renee and Allison had the duty to haul back their gear bags to the lockers.

Andrew felt the phone buzz in the back pocket once more but he ignored it in favour of taking his pills and sleeping off.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew gets to know what Hot Neil sounds like

On Sundays, the library was open till lunchtime. Andrew didn’t know if Hot Neil (Like Hot Wheel. Ha.) was going to be there. But Kevin was being insufferable in the dorm room. Nicky was trying to overcompensate for Friday's game by being extra cheerful. Aaron was studying in the common room and constantly fighting with Kevin. And Andrew still hadn’t replied to abramwh. The dreamlike spell cast on him in the bus late Friday night that prompted him to reply back civilly and almost without thinking wasn’t working on the bright Sunday morning. He was done with the gym. He had no intention of staying in the room and Renee wasn’t available for sparring. On days like these Andrew almost regretted not having more people in his life who could’ve distracted him. The possibility of seeing Hot Neil in the library would have to do.

Around 11 am Andrew entered the library. At the same time he saw Hot Neil, with his bag on a shoulder, exiting it. Andrew felt a stab of disappointment. But he figured since he was here, he might as well spend some minutes catching up on his assignment…. Andrew had a good laugh to himself and just decided to form a reply to abramwh. As he entered, he saw his usual spot was taken up. But the reason behind that spot had already left so Andrew looked around. Almost instinctively, he looked at Hot Neil’s regular spot which was vacant. It was also with a wall to his back, and additionally, it was also next to a big bay window that overlooked the entrance of the library. 

Without thinking he went and sat there.

Five minutes later, he saw Hot Neil entering with a coffee in his hand, his bag on one shoulder. He looked to the opposite side first, where Andrew sits. Curious. Hot Neil paused and then turned to his regular spot where he saw Andrew staring at him. If he paused before, he positively froze now.

But to his credit, it lasted for only two seconds and with no visible change in his face. At least not what Andrew could see from a few feet away. Hot Neil still walked towards him and put his bag on a seat opposite to his. It gave him the window view but now he had his back to the entrance door. Hot Neil caught his eye and visibly hesitated, silently asking for permission. 

Andrew merely looked at his laptop and Hot Neil took it for the permission it was. He sat down quietly and started to work. Andrew briefly marveled at the ease of nonverbal communication. 

An hour or so passed. Hot Neil didn’t even look up once. His dark hair was falling over his blue eyes, he was wearing an orange hoodie, Official Foxes merch. There was the early October chill in the air. Andrew was so distracted and on edge with having him 3 feet away from him, he didn’t get anything done. He just kept jumping from site to site, forgot all about replying to abramwh. What would happen if Andrew got up and just punched this guy on his perfect sharp cheekbone? He could just give him a black eye so for at least next few days he’d look ugly and Andrew would stop obsessing. Theoretically.

Andrew had plans. He had practice every day, open practice on Tuesday, a submission on Thursday, extended from last week. He had a game on Friday. They were going to Columbia after that since they missed yesterday. Andrew’s itinerary was full. Why was he wasting time on a random hot brunet freshman to whom he hadn’t spoken a single word? What was Andrew waiting for, this was a perfect moment to figure this guy’s deal. 

His phone pinged.

Hot Neil looked up, a little startled. Andrew ignored him to see his phone. Abramwh had mailed him. Andrew had a momentary dilemma. On one hand Hot Neil was three feet away, looking up at him. On the other hand some weird exy fanatic dudebro had sent him a mail that could only possibly be a continuation from Friday night. A non exy related mail.

Andrew cursed and cursed and cursed himself as he opened mail on his laptop. Hot Neil went back to his laptop, not even admonishing his loud notification (Andrew still didn’t know what he sounded like). Because they had just been replying to each other, the subject line still read- You Suck. 

**So, topics to avoid in future are your apparent control issues, a possible sexuality crisis and a pedophile named Drake. That is of course, if you want the conversation to be more than just exy.**

Andrew hated everything in that moment. He hated this abramwh person for being so interesting and holding his attention despite being an exy freak. He hated Hot Neil for making him come to the library on a Sunday. He hated Wymack for ever approaching him to play for Palmetto and giving him four years of certainty. He hated Aaron for having ambitions of being a doctor that Andrew felt compelled to help achieve. He hated himself for being so bored and dulled that he was grasping at straws to give himself a fighting chance of having anything resembling a life. 

Andrew typed each letter with careful precision.

_ Fuck you. You are living a worthless life if you have no one else to talk to except some College Exy Goal Keeper.  _

Andrew waited a bit in case the person was online and would reply quickly. In front of him, Hot Neil got up.

“Excuse me,” Hot Neil said to him. Andrew was sure he saw his own heart jumping out of the black sweater. “Could you watch my stuff for five minutes?”

“If you’re not back in five minutes, I legally own everything,” Andrew replied. Hot Neil gave no reaction except staring at his face and a brief tightening of mouth. It was a pretty mouth. But Andrew couldn’t tell if it was an amused or disgruntled quirk. It frustrated Andrew to no end that he didn’t know Hot Neil.

Hot Neil walked towards the washrooms and as soon he was out of sight Andrew put his laptop aside. He took a moment to graph where everything was before picking up a notebook.

Neil Josten. SpSci 214. Subject: Advance Algebra. Andrew frowned. Maybe it was a minor. Inside were haphazard notes, many evidences of him falling asleep in the middle of the lecture with notes veering off the line and becoming incomprehensible. The margins had fox paw doodles. Back page was blank. He put it back. 

The coffee cup was almost empty but it was black coffee. The Campus had 4 coffee shops, this one was from the coffee shop farthest from the library. It was indeed a better coffee shop in Andrew’s opinion but how did this guy go and come back in five minutes? Andrew hadn’t noticed possession of a vehicle. 

Another notebook was of Nutrition. That one had even sparser notes and triple the amount of doodles. Andrew even saw some crude player sketches, identified only by the jersey numbers. Kevin was most prominently featured. Matt or Dan here and there. And Andrew. He was drawn least, differently with his goalkeeper outfit. Andrew thought his were a little more detailed, but then again he was Biased with a capital B. 

It had been three minutes and 40 seconds. Andrew didn’t go for the laptop and it was surely going to be password protected. He sat back. He was satisfied with his findings. Hot Neil was obsessed with Exy, liked his coffee black and from the same place Andrew liked, he had interest in Maths, he possibly owned a vehicle, and he had a good timbre to his voice. 

Andrew was cataloguing the new information when Hot Neil walked back. 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Andrew made a show of looking at the watch on his wrist but he knew the time. 

“Ah, you get to keep your stuff.”

Hot Neil sat down, he looked a little tense, perhaps unsure of talking to Andrew of whom he was clearly aware of, outside the library. “Thanks,” he said quietly. As he sat down and picked his coffee cup up, which would’ve been cold by now, he paused. He looked up at Andrew.

“You drank my coffee?”

Neil had noticed even with the lid on. Andrew wanted him to actually try to drink and then be confused. Hot Neil was smart. 

“As a payment to watch your stuff. I take it with sugar and milk, for the next time. Only bitter people drink bitter coffee.” Andrew said, Aaron’s face flashing in his mind. Andrew didn’t know what he was expecting. A reaction. Surprised laughter, confrontation, fear and uncertainty over Andrew’s infamous manic behaviour.

He didn’t expect calm acceptance. “Okay,” Hot Neil said and opened his laptop. He sat back, put his earphones on. The boy surely wasn’t studying. Andrew had seen his notes. It really conflicted with the amount of time Andrew had seen him lost in whatever he was doing for countless hours in the library. What was he doing?

Andrew kept watching him. He saw Hot Neil’s shoulders tensing but he didn’t look up. Now Andrew shut his laptop down and blatantly just sat there, staring at him. Andrew could almost feel him winding up tighter and tighter, on a verge of breaking. Would he explode? Would he say something? Would he show fear?

Very anticlimactically, a pleasant announcement sounded over the speakers that the library was closing in five minutes. Hot Neil shot up, stuffed his things in his shoulder bag and bolted out. 

Andrew looked on from the window. The guy speed-walked towards Building B, shoulders still tense. He had no vehicle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andrew has a tiny bit, what do we say, 'unreliable narrator' syndrome.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L'ill bit of sexual content in this chapter. Not a lot of plot.   
> Again, bold is abramwh. Italicized is Andrew.

Andrew went back to his dorm just in time for his monsters to go to lunch. They had practice in the afternoon where Wymack gathered them for their today’s training points. They all were standing in a line in front of Wymack. Seth commented something and Dan snapped at him and then Allison snapped at her. It took half an hour to get everyone calmed down so that Wymack could finish. 

“-I saw you limping Renee, go and visit Abby, I will not tell you again. Also some students have approached me and asked if I can help them set up an informal court in the little plain area between Admin office and Chem Lab. Help them with regulations and sizing down. Of course I said yes but I’m a very busy man and all of you are very capable players, so who’s gonna volunteer?”

It happened like they show it in movies. Everybody took a step back and Andrew, who was busy staring at Renee, trying to figure out where she was hurt, was the only guy left in front of their coach. Andrew realised what happened as sputters of laughter broke behind him and Wymack stared at him. Andrew didn’t move, daring the man to actually pick him. Wymack did some internal calculations and sighed.

“Alright, Andrew has graciously volunteered. There’s some old stuff and chalk in my office. Some kid is coming by after our practice.”

Andrew didn’t believe it. The son of a bitch actually picked him. Kevin piped from behind. “I’ll help him, coach.” Wymack threw a grateful glance at him and the warm up began.

As usual, Renee started to run with him. She was limping a bit, left ankle. Goalkeepers didn’t rely on their feet as much (take that abramwh and stick your leg day up your-) but Renee got upto a lot of physical activity out of practice as well. 

“Good on you, volunteering for our community in college. Bee will be glad to hear it.”

“Careful, I might just trip you up and fuck that ankle accidentally, since I didn’t know about it.”

“You can try. Your footwork is shoddier than Jack’s. You do need some leg days.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Andrew said with less heat and more resignation. Renee laughed a little. He felt a little guilty since he hadn’t told her about the new developments and he had said he would. He told her about the crazy fan’s tendency to stick to exy related stuff, until Friday night. He also told her about his Sunday morning mail. 

“So did he reply? And I’m using ‘he’ only because you are.” Renee clarified.

“I didn’t check. I was-“ Andrew paused. He hadn’t exactly told Renee he was spending time in the library. Telling about abramwh was one thing, he was a faceless thing. But telling about library meant telling about Hot Neil. Renee didn’t give him a chance to think too much about it because she asked,

“Hey where  _ were _ you in the morning? You’ve started disappearing a lot lately. Even Katelyn’s noticed-

“When did you talk to Katelyn?” Andrew interrupted.

“-And that girl only goes to practice, class and library” Renee didn’t look up, her tone perfectly normal, but she’d figured it out.

Damn it, Andrew forgot about Katelyn. He knew none of the Foxes would come to the library, not even the new kid. But Katelyn! He briefly considered feigning ignorance but Renee never lightly disclosed the information she had. 

“There is a boy. I might try hooking up with him.” Andrew went the honest way.

Renee didn’t say anything. He expected her to, since she let him know that she knew something was up. But Wymack blew a whistle and they all started practicing. 

By the time practice ended it was getting dark but Wymack hadn’t forgotten. He called Andrew to his office where he met a tall sophomore girl who looked very excited to see him. Kevin had dutifully followed but the girl’s eyes were trained on Andrew. She didn’t say much while they were in there. Andrew got some chalk, the remains of two old goalposts and thrust one at Kevin. They all walked towards the admin building when the girl, Angela started to talk.

“I’m very glad you guys are helping out. We actually wanted the court but your coach didn’t agree on that. Safety reasons and what not. Well I said then give us an alternative. There aren’t just 8 people in the whole of Palmetto that want to play exy you know and there’s no other court around.”

Kevin asked, “How many of you are there?”

“There weren’t many before but since the coach started with open practice more and more people seem interested. We’re actually going to canvass some people on Tuesday’s open practice.”

It was dark by the time they reached the little clearing. It wasn’t optimum of course, but Andrew saw it was the best possible place in their whole campus. The grass was well maintained since it was close to the main offices. And it was not an area frequented by people as much. There was no one else there.

Andrew asked, “It’s just you here?”

Angela seemed nervous at being addressed to by Andrew. She was blushing, two spots of colour on her high cheekbones. “Um yeah? I can, I can follow whatever you’ll ask of me.”

Kevin silently groaned behind her. “There’s a lot of measuring involved, it’s best if you get one more person at least, so we cover four corners and one more person besides you can get to know the regulations and sizes.” Angela’s face visibly got down and she pulled her phone out.

“Well there’s this guy who seems to know about exy a shit ton. Kind of an asshole but he’ll def…” She kept murmuring as she searched through her contacts.

For a moment Andrew wondered if it would be Hot Neil. But Hot Neil didn’t seem like an asshole. For another moment, Andrew wondered if it would be abramwh. He had thought a bit about him. That guy must be a student. Granted it was not a college issued email id and anybody with a campus pass or a ticket could come to open practices and games. But Andrew felt it would be a student, just as he had felt it would be a guy. He had searched through the college student list. Two guys named Abraham. None Abram. None Abram W. H. But Andrew still held out. 

He pulled his phone out to do something with his hands and he saw he had gotten another email. Right around the time he was leaving the library actually. The last mail he had sent was fairly venom filled so Andrew was eager to know how abramwh would respond.

**If I’m worthless for talking to an exy goal keeper of my college who for some reason always seems to hold back from fully utilizing his talent, what does it say about you who replied all this while to a random worthless guy?**

This guy didn’t know how to quit, did he? Well he did confirm that he was from Palmetto. Maybe an ex-student? No, he did say he was my age. While Andrew was thinking about abramwh, out of the dark shadows emerged Hot Neil Josten, looking extremely irritated. Angela must’ve told him Andrew and Kevin were there because he didn’t look surprised.

“Guys, this is Neil. He’s a freshman, Sports Science major. He’s a real expert about Exy. He actually offered to draw out the court for us, but I said no-“

“Yet I’m here nonetheless,” Hot Neil sniped. Ooh, Andrew could see why Angela would call him an asshole. Where was this fire when Andrew drank his coffee in the library?

“I said,” Angela glared at him, “We’ll let pros handle this. So, I got two of our very own Foxes!”

They got to work immediately since three out of four people weren’t in the mood to chat. Angela was right. Hot Neil did know all the regulations. It was one thing to be a fan of exy, it was another to know the court specs off the top of your head. They measured out a smaller scale of the court on the grass and put down the old goalpost frames. They didn’t have a net in them but it worked. They also brainstormed a little to modify the rule to accommodate the smaller size. They had to make the number of steps down to 7 from 10, only one striker and what not. Angela was knowledgeable as well. But the sheer amount of technicalities Kevin could come up with only Hot Neil matched him. Kevin was looking at him with a little reverence in his eyes, it was a very weird look for him.

Kevin asked, “You played Exy in school? What position were you?”

Hot Neil stiffened. “No, I don’t play Exy.”

“All talk and no play huh?” Andrew said.

“Look at you, you neither talk nor play,” Hot Neil replied but his tone was much lighter than the one he had when he came. Angela took offence however. “Hey, this is Andrew Minyard we’re talking about. He’s pulled some of the most impossible saves and has one of the best stats in the SouthEast region. You know, Andrew,” she turned to him. “People fawn over strikers a lot but I think it’s the goalkeepers that are the most impressive. There’s a subtlety in what a goalkeeper does that goes so unnoticed.”

“Oh I’m being noticed for sure. Got one too many fans writing to me.”

Neil retorted, “Kevin I can understand. But the lowest ranking college team’s goalkeeper has fans? What kind of jobless people are paying that close attention to you?” 

“I’ll ask him when I meet him,” Andrew felt irrationally protective of his asshole fan. 

“You’re meeting him?” Kevin suddenly asked. “Do more cardio guy? That’s still going on? Andrew-”

“Shut up Kevin.”

Angela laughed nervously, “Aaallrightt, things are getting very weird and it’s pretty late. We should go. Neil, accompany me back to my House? The BioChem gang is out and they’re always tripping on their basement experiments.” Neil nodded and they both left. And for a moment both of the Foxes watched them go.

“I forgot to ask why he’s not playing,” Kevin said. “Guy knows his stuff. Looks athletic too.”

“Remember to wear protection. Just because it’s gay doesn’t mean you don’t wear a condom.” Andrew replied immediately, as if it was a dialogue he’d heard many times.

“Fuck off,” Kevin gave him a finger for good measure and they walked back to their dorm. Andrew’s phone was burning against his thigh with the unanswered email but Andrew had better things on his mind.

…

Andrew got two more emails on both Tuesday and Friday. They won the Friday’s game and Andrew hated to admit it but the Kellen McEll play suggested by abramwh worked. He had to very sneakily suggest it to Kevin in Sunday’s practice without seeming like he was actually participating. While Tuesday’s mail was some more critique of his general inactivity and missed technicalities, the Friday’s mail simply read:  **Congrats** .

Not even full congratulations. Andrew smirked to himself as he imagined his basement dwelling fan bitterly typing that. On Renee’s suggestion, he didn’t reply back. He hadn’t replied to Tuesday's mail as well. But he had a thousand and one insults ready in his mind. Their party at Columbia took more of an edge because they were celebrating the victory as well. Dan tried futilely to have them stay back so they all could celebrate together but Aaron was getting very antsy, not having had access to cracker dust for two whole weeks.

He didn’t do it often but after getting into Eden’s Twilight, Andrew asked Nicky to stay sober and be their designated driver. Nicky whined but Andrew had already gone towards the bar. Roland made his way to him in a few seconds.

“Hey stranger, heard you won yesterday. You in the mood for celebrating?”

Andrew smiled at him very lasciviously and ordered drinks. “Storage room. Five minutes.”

“Hey I’m busy here!”

“I’m not staying sober until your shift ends.” Andrew took his drinks and made his way to their table. As soon as he put the tray down, the drinks were emptied. Nicky was still whining as he took his soda. 

Andrew drank down his vodka and sat still for a minute until the buzz kicked in. He let the warmth stretch its tendrils to his hands and toes and he got up to go to storage. Roland was already inside, stripped to his tight leather pants, holding their pair of handcuffs.

“I can’t say no to you,” Roland smiled. Andrew remembered he still hadn’t seen Hot Neil smile. This was not the time to think about Hot Neil, he admonished himself and came forward. 

Andrew knew what Roland liked. Careful nips at the rib cage, murmured words of praise, French kisses. He was quite the romantic. Andrew knew if he had allowed Roland would’ve liked nothing more than to take him home and make sweet sweet love. But since that wasn’t happening, Andrew always did everything he could to give Roland the best experience. 

As Roland was coming off his orgasm, Andrew stood up and pressed his body against him. Pressing close mouthed kisses in Roland’s neck, he got himself off. Andrew would’ve liked to leave a hickey but Roland didn’t like it since he still had to work afterwards. As Andrew removed his handcuffs and began to clean up off him, Roland spoke.

“I’m always waiting for you to say ‘this is the last time’ everytime we do this.”

In an unconventional moment of consideration Andrew said, “It might be. There’s this guy in college who looks pretty cute.”

Roland sighed. “Lots of people look pretty cute. This club is packed with pretty cute people.”

Andrew huffed. If he knew how his mind worked, he wouldn’t be having this problem, now would he? He turned to open the door and Roland threw his hands against it, careful not to touch. “Just… don’t be a stranger alright?”

Andrew nodded. His buzz had left and he immediately set on correcting it. Andrew wasn’t much of a dancer but in that moment he wished he was. Aaron and Nicky were out there on the floor; being sober hadn’t deterred Nicky. The dance floor was just a sea of people. Andrew was pretty drunk by then and he really wanted to lose himself, lose all the thoughts. Lose the constant details he took in and all the things on his minds that never really leave him. But the very thought of being surrounded by people repulsed him. Kevin had slid halfway down in his chair and he was staring up at the ceiling.

Andrew pulled his phone out. He opened his mail and stared at the single word mail,  **Congrats.**

He had to reply. He had to.

_ You smug motherfuckwr. Renee told me not to reply bytfcik you. Who do you think you’re.Show me your face coward. Enough of hurling insults at eac other over fuckin gmail. You don’t scare me. I have muscles where it counts asswipr. Tomorrow at dawn we ride _

He sent. A wave of satisfaction rolled through him. And then a wave of realisation.

_ Wait no m in Columbia. Wasted. Go tell the fucki press. Oh whats that? Noooobody cares about me n what I do. Except apparently fuckin you. What the shit dude. How does it feel to have no life _

**You okay?**

_ What part of wasted you don’t understand _

**You have someone to drive you? I trust none of your bitch ass friends to stay sober**

_ Stop giving a shit dude. You’re not the person who I want giving any shit _

**No no no. You’re NOT going to reveal anything to me while drunk. Fuck off. I refuse. Dunk your head in the toilet. Get sober. Idc. I will block you if you send one more mail. Gtfo**

_ Get off your high horse. I’ll stop. Don’t block. I have a ride. _

Andrew did put his phone back in his pocket, feeling vaguely unsettled. Andrew did not like mysteries and now he had two in his life. This abramwh guy who was an asshole but apparently not. And Hot Neil who was not confrontational but apparently was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lovely comments from you guys.. I'm like ^_^   
> You guys can expect daily uploads, my birthday's coming soon and I'm planning on posting the last chapter then :)


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some truths, some revelations. Crude language, but that's a given. There'll be daily uploads, except on this weekend :)

Monday evening Aaron came into their dorm room and said, “There are people actually playing exy on that admin block court. They’re calling it ABC. Disgusting.”

Nicky mimed pulling out a little diary. “October Twelfth. List of things Aaron Minyard Finds Disgusting. Entry #204. People abbreviating names.” Andrew let out a bark of laughter. 

Renee came in after him, holding the borrowed CD of some latest game. She pushed it at Aaron and said, “I’m calling second dibs,” and then turned to the rest. “Yeah I saw them too. They don’t play half bad. We should ask if we can recruit from them. We need some subs. There was this short brunet guy who looks promising although he was just on the sidelines.”

“Why’s he promising then?” Nicky asked. Kevin’s head snapped up. Andrew looked at him with narrowed eyes. 

“He knew a lot about the game. All the technicalities. One of the team was consulting him.”

“That must be Neil guy,” Kevin said. He turned to Andrew, “You know we really should check him out.”

At the mention of Neil, Renee looked at Andrew. He started to feel trapped by both of their gazes. 

“Get laid on your own, Day. I’m not going to check out random guys with you.”

“Am I the only straight person in this room?” Aaron asked with extra exasperation. 

Kevin scoffed. “It’s only Nicky who’s gay.”

“Not straight doesn’t have to mean just gay,” Renee countered.

“Gross,” Aaron said and disappeared into his room.

“Entry #205”, Nicky said.

Andrew got up and decided to take a walk. It was getting properly cold outside so Renee pulled a muffler from her own neck and thrust it at him. Andrew accepted wordlessly. He was hungry and it wasn’t dinner time yet so he walked to his favourite coffee shop. As he neared, he saw Neil walking with a tall-ish good looking guy. He was on the lacrosse team, Andrew knew him. They were headed towards the same coffee shop and they would reach for the door at the same time. 

Andrew slowed down in favour of watching them. The lacrosse guy (Andrew knew his name, he just didn’t bother) was half turned towards Neil, talking. Neil was listening and nodding but he was looking ahead. If Andrew had to guess, they were coming back from the ABC (fuck Aaron) and Lacrosse guy was just there for Neil. Lacrosse people famously did not get along with Exy people. Neil was replying, only briefly meeting his eyes. Andrew had his hood on and he more or less melted in the shadows. They didn’t notice him as they went ahead in the coffee shop. Andrew was immediately behind them, entering through. The shop was sparsely populated, almost on the verge of closing.

Lacrosse guy ordered herbal tea. “I don’t drink caffeine late at night.”

“Bet you sleep at 10,” Neil dryly replied.

“Well, I could stay up all night if you want,” Lacrosse guy smiled at him. Neil blinked up at him.

“I guess we all have to pull all nighters.” Andrew would laugh if he could.

“One black coffee for me,” Neil ordered to the barista who had also witnessed that disaster and was trying not to laugh. “And one coffee with milk and sugar for the fellow behind me.”

Andrew’s breath hitched. Lacrosse guy spun around and had to look down. God, Andrew wanted to punch this guy so bad! “Oh”, he just said, looking at Andrew. “You know him?” He half asked Neil, half asked Andrew. Andrew obviously just stared back.

“We have a…” Neil turned back for the first time, having paid the barista. He looked him in the eyes for a brief moment. Andrew pulled his patented maniac smile. 

“An understanding, I suppose,” Neil finished undeterred and smiled back. A small certain smile. It was like a heart attack. That never stopped. 

Barista handed them their drinks and Neil just stood to the side, waiting for Andrew. The Lacrosse player stood besides him, shifting from one foot to another. There was a sudden power shift in the room and this 5’3’’ midget held all of it. But did the oblivious bastard realise it? Of Course not. Andrew took his milk and sugar coffee, picked up an extra sugar sachet and marched down to a table that very clearly had only two chairs. 

No doubt, Neil followed him. The Lacrosse player automatically moved as if joined by a chain but once he realised, he stopped. 

“Fuck you, Josten.” He spat and left with his tea in hand.

Neil didn’t acknowledge that. He instead decided to acknowledge Andrew’s clothing.

“Nice muffler, I like the contrast of baby pink with everything else black.”

“I’m told I need a splash of colour in life,” Andrew replied. Neil smiled again.

“I’m not going to do you a disservice by asking if you were following me, but you were definitely eavesdropping back there.” Neil commented, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I didn’t hear a word that passed between you two. Except the last conversation in front of the counter. That was unavoidable.” Andrew answered truthfully. The table was small and their knees were very close together. 

“How was your weekend?”

“Boring.”

“The weekend or my question?” Neil cocked his head. 

“If I answer your question, will you answer mine?” Andrew asked after a beat.

Neil took a sip of his coffee. “No. Unless you want false answers. Then sure.”

“You’re such a fucking smartass.”

“How was your weekend?” Neil asked again.

“Spent it with my family. And Kevin. Why don’t you play Exy?”

“I have an injury. Why are you interested?”

“We need substitute players. What injury? Wait. No. How did you get that injury?”

Neil narrowed his eyes. “Car related incident. Why do I never see Kevin without you?”

Now it was Andrew’s turn to narrow his eyes. All crushes aside, Andrew was naturally paranoid. Andrew replied none the less. “I’ve promised to protect him with my life.”

“Protect him or keep a guard on him?” Neil asked, leaning forward. All kinds of warning bells went off in Andrew’s head. What started as enjoyable banter suddenly became very dangerous. Andrew felt the noise die down around them but that was just his imagination.

Andrew leaned forward as well, he wasn’t interested in playing games at all. “You have two options. Either you walk out with me now or I throw you against that glass counter right here right now.” Andrew’s left hand already had a knife hidden under the table. 

Neil undoubtedly felt some movement but he didn’t break his gaze. He still pressed on, “Answer me and I’ll come outside. Protect him or keep a guard on him?” 

Andrew got up. “To protect him.” 

Neil got up too. 

Unaware of how close she came to being a witness to an attempt of murder, the Barista waved them goodbye as they left through the door. 

As soon as they were outside Andrew grabbed Neil’s elbow and threw him against a wall. He had put his knife back in the arm sleeve but he held his arm against Neil’s throat.

“What do you want with Kevin? Did Riko send you? The Ravens have pretty low standards these days don’t they? Since they lost their coach? How desperate is Riko getting?”

While Neil struggled initially, as he heard the volley of questions, he gave up struggling. 

Andrew was disappointed, he really was. The one guy he found remotely attractive AND interesting had to be a mole from the Ravens. And a pretty shitty one too. Andrew pressed his arm a little bit more.

“It’s funny,” Neil croaked. “I had the same questions in mind regarding you.”

“You’re doubting me?” Andrew’s hold loosened.

“Why not? You were initially scouted by the Ravens, it was in the news. People also know you refused them. But you join Palmetto the same year Kevin joins here after injuring his hand? And now you follow him everywhere? You have him included in your little monster group? You have created a strong alibi with your family here. But you have equally suspicious motives.”

“Alibi? Motive? Last I checked, I’m the Criminal Justice Major here, not you. And what about you Mr I-know-everything-about Exy-but apparently-I-don’t-play-and-I-have-unhealthy-interest-in Kevin Day? You’ve got weird ways to get Kevin’s attention, but I gotta say it worked. Don’t worry. Riko Moriyama will get Kevin Day over my dead body.”

Neil was silent for a moment. The adrenaline rush Andrew had was wearing off and now he realised how close Neil was. Neil’s hands were by his side, defenseless but he could still touch Andrew very easily. Andrew backed off. Neil didn’t move. Instead, he said,

“So I thought you’re the mole. And you thought I’m the mole. I’m convinced you are not. For whatever reason, you truly are protecting Kevin. I don’t know how to convince you I’m not the mole.”

“You can begin by saying how you know so much. About Riko, the Moriyamas. Most of his avid fans are still Raven fans. Yet here you are, suspecting they are out to harm him.”

“I know a little about Moriyamas. Look, I love exy but I really can’t play because of my injury. So I just set out on learning everything about it. Which is where I came across Kevin Day and his recent accident, subsequent moving to Palmetto and everything. Combined with my previous knowledge of the Moriyamas, I could guess that it was not really an accident. Kevin wouldn’t have left if it was just an accident.”

“And how did you acquire this previous knowledge of Moriyamas?”

“If you know about Moriyamas, then shouldn’t you assume that I’d rather not talk about it?” Neil said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Andrew took a step back, turning to leave. And then he chose his next words carefully.

“You know, I watched you before because I just thought you were really hot. But bear in mind, I have another reason to keep an eye on you now.”

As he expected, Neil startled. 

…

Open practice on Tuesday. Neil was there. But instead of sitting in the top row, he was down behind the plexiglass. Coach obviously kept their most routine practice on Tuesday and Andrew was getting really bored. Because of the audience that was growing little by little every Tuesday, the team members were also behaving themselves. Andrew and Renee were practicing together, a standard exercise.

Andrew’s interest in the practice was waning fast and he was almost going to sit down in the middle of the goal post again. He was tired. He didn’t sleep last night. He could almost imagine abramwh’s bullet list, word by word. There weren’t many new things he could criticise in their weekly routine practice. He glanced around the stadium. Even though the number of people was more than Wymack had initially expected, it was still a manageable pool. He knew it was useless yet he looked around people to see if anyone was paying special attention in their direction. If anyone was taking any kind of notes. An unfamiliar face. An intense face. A face that looked only at Andrew.

Most of them were looking at the more exciting part of the practice, the scrimmage between strikers and dealers and backliners. Someone was waving at Renee. He’d have to ask about it. Andrew knew they hadn’t sparred in a while. He kind of missed her, which was silly since she was right in front of him, waving her padded arm back. Renee was a decent goalie. She hadn’t the muscle to carry the heavy equipment but her reflexes were still way faster than average. She probably would’ve been formidable as a striker. He had to tell Renee about Neil so she could keep her eye on him too. Neil wouldn’t expect her. 

They ended practice early when Dan and Aaron got in a fight. Andrew tried not to visibly hurry but he got back to his phone and checked it before taking his gear off. He had one new mail.

**Idk what to tell you. Refer to my last mail about open practice. You seemed more distracted than usual though. Looking for me?**

_ Not a single insult? I’m offended, Abram. Drunk they might be, I’m not taking back my words on Saturday. Show yourself. What’ve you got to hide? Fuckwit. _

Andrew got out of his gear and showered before the reply came.

**I feel like we’re friends now, after our last conversation. I don’t feel right insulting a man who drunk texted me.**

_ Selective reading is a sign of dumb-assery.  _

Selective read this, dumbass, Andrew thought as they drove back to the dorms. He got out and checked his mail. Abramwh had replied.

“Are you doing your text therapy with Bee again? You’re going to see her tomorrow anyways,” Nicky asked, interrupting him. Because he was trying to be better, Andrew didn’t just flip him off.

**I can’t figure why you want me to reveal myself. All of the fun is in the secret identity. Anonymous tips. You don’t get biased against me.**

_ A prime example of an undeveloped brain. This secret identity business is only one way, you spineless blobfish. It’s Mike Myers level creepy that you keep close tabs on me, observe me yet I don’t even know your name. _

**You called me Abram. That’s good enough. It’s truer than any other name.**

Andrew paused. What the fuck.

_ Abram. How many names do you have? _

**More than one person should. More than I care to remember. But Abram is the only name I care about.**

_ You sound so fucking shady. What is it with the people around me? Alright tell me one fact about yourself that no one knows. Absolutely no one. _

Andrew had to wait a while. A reply came in the dead of the night.

**My mom is dead. That’s not the fact. Some people know it. The fact is that sometimes I’m glad she’s dead because she would hate everything about me right now.**


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew unravels some more secrets, but it isn't enough. Something drastic is required to solve Neil.
> 
> Dedicating this chapter to @fuzzballsheltiepants and her amazing aftg content!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a therapy scene at the beginning which I give no guarantee that it's accurate. Not much warning other than that.

Andrew was afraid of very few things. Heights, losing his family, somehow waking up as a 7 year old again. He had gained a new fear- going to therapy every other Wednesday to Betsy and not coming out as a better person. Bee had told him about it. Once you’ve had the taste of improvement, you don’t want to lose that momentum, you want to keep seeing visible improvements. She had said, sometimes, no change is a good change. 

It was hard to internalise that. But then Bee regularly asked him to do hard things.

“We only choose to keep contact with people who have some perceived value to us. Why do you keep replying to Abram? What value does he provide?” She was asking, serene as usual.

“I’m not keeping contact with him. Keeping contact would imply I initiate conversation which I don’t. All my mails are a response to his mail.”

“But you do reply. If you thought this person had nothing to offer, you would’ve blocked him. You are that kind of a person.”

Andrew stared at the figurine shelves. Bee loved them. There was a lack of yellow shade among them. A lot of that collection was helped along by Andrew who bought them in airport shops whenever they flew for away games. Andrew remembered the first game in November was an away game. He’d have to specifically find them in yellow tones in the airport shops; they would look nicely with the deep blue ones in the upper right corner.

“I suppose it’s amusing.” Andrew replied. She waited for him to elaborate.

“People have sort of.. given up on me playing better. Kevin bitches but that’s because he’s that kind of a person,” Andrew mocked Bee’s phrase. She just smiled. “But Abram- or whatever his name is- he emails me after every game and open practice to point out that I could do better and how I could achieve it. He would keep doing that even if I didn’t reply. Which is such a batshit crazy thing to do. Who goes up to random people and tells them ‘here is a point wise list of everything wrong with you. Get better’?

Also it’s very much fun to say fuck you to a person who deserves it and doesn’t get offended at all.”

“Would you say it’s an outlet for behaviour you’re trying to stay away from?”

“Nah. I am trying to reduce the number of times I pull a knife on someone who very much deserves a good slash and stab. But I have no problem saying fuck you to people. I’m learning to be non violent, Bee. Be proud of me.”

“I’m always proud of you, Andrew.” Bee smiled again and got up. Their time was up. 

As Betsy went to the door to show Andrew out, she said, “You know, perhaps, your letter writer isn’t offended with your replies because he expects them to be crude?”

Andrew hummed and as he went out, he saw Neil sitting in the waiting area.

“Come in, Mr Josten,” Bee said. Neil looked like he had eaten an entire lemon which Andrew found supremely hilarious. Neil met his eyes and looked momentarily surprised and then chagrined. 

“Sorting your shit out, I see,” Andrew said.

“Isn’t everyone?” Neil replied as he passed him. His whole frame was so rigid you could surf waves on him. He missed the beach. 

Andrew went outside and stood for a moment, taking in a deep breath. He forced himself to not search if he was a better person already. Then he gave that up as he realised for the next hour Neil would be in therapy and this was the perfect time to raid his room. He called Nicky to come to medical building and keep a watch for Neil and made his way to House B. Wednesdays are always a little deserted around the campus because the cafeteria serves baked beans on Wednesday and a local pub owner in brilliant stroke of genius kept a Buy one Get one free offer on beers from 7 to10 pm. 

Andrew walked in the reception area, hood over his head. He knew Neil’s room number; he’d checked it after Monday night. He didn’t realise he’d get to use it so soon but it worked out perfectly. It was ridiculously easy to break in Neil’s room. He knocked on it first to check if anyone was in; when nobody opened the door, he took out a hairpin he stole from Allison and opened the door. It was easy to see which side was Neil’s. The left side of the room was devoid of any posters or personal memorabilia. However he did see Neil’s Fox hoodie hanging on the peg at the foot of bed. He glanced at the right side which was covered in some band and anime posters. There was a note on the dresser on his side that read- Don’t lock the door, weirdo. I’ll be in late and I’ve lost my keys again.

Neil’s side wasn’t freaky neat and clean as his walls however. Andrew felt somehow better about it. There were a few clothes lying about which looked like either they were really old, oversized and faded or quite new and in smaller size. Neil must’ve had a weight loss- possibly related to his injury? 

Andrew carefully surveyed the area, then meticulously went through the drawers. Neil didn’t have any personal possessions beyond clothes and books. Forget meaningful, not even weird stuff like jumble of wires, old broken watches, expired strips of lozenges, something like that. Andrew felt like he was in an indie simulation game. It was dark in the room and the only light came from the orange street lamp, it came in slices through the window bars. It was amateur game design, having only clothes and books in a college student’s dorm. He opened the last, widest drawer to see clothes again. But a quick rifling through showed a metal safe at the very bottom. Huh. 

It took a painful minute more but Andrew opened that as well and would you look at this! There were two fat cash bundles at the top. A thick journal underneath and an even thicker binder at the bottom. What the fuck, Hot Neil? The thick journal had a lot of coded information and visiting cards that just had a single name and numbers on them (They were not phone numbers). Andrew didn’t have time to decode it, but he noticed all of it was quite worn. It was an old journal and few dates that he could see peppered here and there dated as far back as 7 years. Most of it was in similar, consistent handwriting which meant Neil hadn’t written this. As interesting as Neil had just become, he didn’t think an 11 year old could have written it. Last dated entry was around three years ago. Coded and incomprehensible. There was also a contact lenses box that had brown lenses in them. Prescription lenses? He hadn’t seen Neil wear glasses. And a box of brown and black hair dye. He opened the binder. 

It was full of news clippings about Kevin and Riko. This was again dating as back as 5-6 years. Kevin and Riko had always been media darlings so they’d always feature in news. This, Andrew could believe Neil had done. A lot of them seemed like internet printouts. Towards the end though, around 6-8 months ago, obscure exy articles interspersed with articles about Kevin. Detailed history, list of popular and semi popular game plays, historical statistics. Around the beginning of the college year, he also saw printouts of google searches on him. There were only two-three clippings, his juvie stint, the Columbia incident and subsequent reporting on Teenager Ordered by Court to Take Medication For Violent Proclivities. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Nicky messaged that Neil had left. Andrew kept everything back as it was and left the room. Then, instead of leaving, he went to the end of the corridor and sat on the staircase which apparently nobody used since they had elevators and it was on the fourth floor. He pretended to look on his phone but kept an eye in the corridor. Luckily for him, the elevator was on the middle of a side in such a way that Neil didn’t have to turn towards the staircase to go to his room. 

In few minutes Neil appeared, the sour look still in place. As soon as he went in, Andrew got up. He briefly ruminated over whether or not he was going to confront Neil right now but decided against it. He left the building as casually as he entered it and walked back to his dorm. A few minutes later someone jogged past him. 

It was Neil. He had changed into something more appropriate for running and he had earphones on. Neil hadn’t thankfully noticed Andrew; he had obliviously run past. It was almost 8 pm in the middle of October and this guy was jogging. Neil’s behaviour didn’t add up. Andrew tried to look over him to see what kind of injury Neil might have that prevented him from playing, but it was dark, Andrew could only see his backside and Neil was pretty fast. There were so many questions stacking up in Andrew’s mind. 

...

If Andrew was keeping tabs on Neil before, now he was practically stalking him. He told Kevin and others that this Neil guy was super shady and they were going to help him keep a track of him. Kevin looked sadder than he had any right to. He’d met the guy only once. If anybody was going to be sad, it should be Andrew. Aaron said he wasn’t going to stalk anybody but to let him know if Andrew needed to create any alibi. Nicky was very excited about following a hot guy around. 

“I don’t have to be subtle right? He knows you’re suspicious of him?”

Andrew sighed. Still they did a pretty decent job of charting the guy’s schedule. It was also made easier by the fact that Neil didn’t do much. He went to his classes, library and occasionally ran laps around the campus. Guy loved running. 

However they did find out that Matt knew the guy. They shared some Sports Science class which was weird because Matt was in like his third year. And because Matt was Matt, he knew everyone in his class.

“Oh Neil? Yeah, I know him. The guy doesn’t talk but he has some exceptional roasting capabilities. Knows a lot of exy but the poor guy had some injury. Something leg related but won’t tell me about it.” Matt was surprised when Kevin came up casually chatting, with Andrew tagging along, but he was all too happy to talk.

“What about his roasting capability?” Andrew couldn’t help but ask.

Matt’s face became a little weird, “Yeah, he.. he tore some guy apart when that guy was calling my drug problem out loudly in the class. Idk why he did that, we didn’t really talk before. I mean, I talked. We sit close, you see. He’s your fan, Kevin, asks after you and Andrew.”

Kevin’s face perked up and then crumbled again once remembered that this guy was supposed to be shady. “He asks after both of us but he’s Kevin’s fan?” Andrew asked.

“Well yeah. I mean he asked after you as in, who’s the guy that never leaves Kevin’s side? Why are you guys asking about him? Did he do something?”

“Something about those amateur Exy players. Coach thinks we can pick some subs from there,” Andrew lied smoothly and they left. Kevin was reluctant to spend time chasing this guy around anymore so Andrew went by himself.

Andrew briefly thought about whether he should invite Neil to Columbia after their game on Friday night. He was reluctant to do so. Neil had things to explain but he also hadn’t made any moves towards Kevin despite him having been here for almost two months. But Andrew couldn’t think of any other way to get him away from others and at their mercy to get him talking. Neil kept his head straight under pressure, Andrew felt that in the coffee shop. Getting this guy to break was going to be tougher but it became that much more important. 

Library, Coffee Shop, Admin Block Court, he mapped a route between them to systematically check them out. Neil wasn’t in any of these places. Andrew didn’t want to go knocking on Neil’s room and give away he knew where he lived just yet. They had a game tomorrow but he had the day to find Neil. But in between he had one more task to do.

Andrew found Neil on Friday afternoon at lunch time. He was by himself, in a corner table, with some book in front of him. Andrew slid in front of him at the lunch table. Neil didn't startle, he just looked up as if it was a normal thing and raised an eyebrow at Andrew. Sunlight slanted through the skylights in Cafeteria and Neil's brown curls looked golden. 

“I’m inviting you to come with us tonight at a club. Eden’s Twilight in Columbia.”

“Don’t you have a Game tonight?”

“Don’t be an idiot. Come by the dorm 20 minutes after our game ends. Nicky’ll let you up.”

Neil gave him a crooked smile, “Is this your way of asking me out?”

Andrew kept his urge to punch the guy in solar plexus in check. “Since you bought me coffee last time…” Andrew got up and left before Neil could make some other smart ass remark that would definitely get him decked. He was one step closer to solving Neil, his apprehension over the imminent drugging of Neil buried deep down. Whatever he was hiding, there was no coming back from this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No abramwh nor Neil much in this chapter. :/ At this point, I'm basically lifting events from canon and writing them from Andrew's pov lol  
> And guysss, I'm absolutely having a baller time reading and replying to your comments y'all are so lovely ^^_^^


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil comes to Columbia.

They won the game by the skin of their teeth. Wymack dismissed them early; he had an expression on his face that looked a lot like pride. Neil was early as well, loitering around the building as the Foxes made their way back through the after game crowd. Dan, Matt and Allison looked concerned as they saw Neil being let up by the monsters. Renee threw a very meaningful glance at Andrew. As they reached their room, Andrew brought out clothes he had bought last night and threw them at Neil. Neil threw him a look of exasperation but by this point Andrew believed Neil knew him enough not to be stubborn about it. 

They headed to Columbia and after Sweeties, they went to Eden’s Twilight. Neil did not bat an eye when everybody took cracker dust at Sweeties. He didn’t even say much about the mild withdrawal symptoms (Well, milder than usual) Andrew was showing. But Neil also didn’t drink or ask for any dust because of course he didn’t. He even refused in the most bored tone possible when Andrew waggled a packet at him. 

But that wasn’t a problem. Andrew managed to drug him easily with Roland’s help and sat back waiting for it to kick in. Roland tried to ask Andrew with meaningful eye movements if this was the guy he mentioned when they last met. Andrew had ignored him; things were complicated enough without adding Roland into it. Nicky dragged the reluctant Neil on the dance floor. Andrew had already warned Nicky off not to try anything with Neil; Nicky had promised but he wasn’t a very reliable drunk. Andrew tried not to be jealous. Hot Neil was looking even hotter with the clothes Andrew had picked. Andrew was only slightly disappointed that Neil didn’t pick up one of the sheer net t-shirts he had bought. Andrew didn’t adhere to gay stereotypes but he did have a good sense of fashion. He even felt a little bad, drugging him. Whatever trust Neil had put in him, coming with him to Eden, was going to be effectively destroyed. But he had to get answers from him. 

Neil was an evasive bastard on all accounts and he definitely had some shady history, despite the concern he displayed for Kevin in the Coffee House. He had even thought Andrew was the Raven’s guy. It was funny though, how he used the word ‘Moriyama’ when he meant Riko or the Ravens. Andrew knew a little about what the name Moriyama meant. Andrew would’ve liked to talk it out with Kevin but he was no use in these matters. Fear paralysed him at even a mention of Coach Tetsuji or Riko, even though Coach Tetsuji retired a few months ago. Besides, he was already wasted. 

The drugs would’ve worked by now. Andrew got up and made his way through the crowds, searching for the short brunet head. But instead a short blond head came running at him. 

“Andrew!” Aaron called over the loud club music. He sounded panicked and the cracker dust made him very jittery. “Neil’s down.” Andrew ran to the back exit where he saw Neil slumped against the dirty brick wall and a busboy standing near, looking a little apprehensive at the blond twins. Neil had apparently realised that he’d been drugged and paid the boy to knock him out. 

Motherfucker.

They managed to get his unconscious body in the car and to their house. It was a trip wasted essentially. But they still had him in the house half a state away from their college. They put him in one of the rooms. Nicky said he’ll stay with him in the room in case he woke up. 

Kevin decided none of this interested him anymore and went to sleep off the alcohol in his system. Aaron gave him a look that said, ‘you made this mess, you figure it out.’ Andrew pulled out his phone and checked his notifications as if they’ll give him some idea. He noticed abramwh hadn’t mailed him a summary of today’s game. Andrew felt a brief stab of disappointment. He’d put 10% effort in today’s game if he said so himself. Andrew got out and walked to the nearest 24 hour grocery store to get some stuff for breakfast since he didn’t want to miss Neil waking up. And it was good that he did.

Neil woke up fighting. He was dehydrated, puking and unable to stand on his own two feet. Still the boy was throwing punches. Nicky got a good elbow in the ribs. But Andrew came in and threw a glass of water on Neil’s face that seemed to shock him enough to pause. He saw Andrew and his fury took a new level where he just got quiet.

Neil sat on the edge of the bed, looking alternatingly between Andrew who sat in front of him on a chair, Kevin and Aaron who stood at the door and Nicky who sat behind him and was handing him a glass of water.

“Dust will dehydrate you like a bitch. Drink up.”

Neil took the glass and dropped it on the carpet.

“It would’ve been easier for you too to let yourself get interrogated while drugged,” Andrew spoke. Neil turned his ice blue gaze on him. Neil didn’t look like much but that was a gaze of a person who’d seen unspeakable horrors and probably caused them as well. Andrew was right suspecting him.

“Why is an 18 year old college student carrying several thousand dollars in cash, a journal full of code and a binder on Kevin and Riko?”

“You broke into my room?”

“I’ve broken things much worse. Start speaking.”

“What are you going to do, kill me?”

“You’ve clearly got secrets and you don’t want anybody to look closely at you. I’m sure I can rectify that. Our coach isn’t much but he takes his star player’s safety very seriously. One innocent complaint about you stalking Kevin to him and there will be an official investigation.”

“I don’t stalk Kevin.”

“I know a police officer who owes me a favour. I can have a look into your records. I’m sure you have some skeletons in your closet we can unearth.”

“Don’t you think if my intention was to hurt Kevin, I would’ve done something more by now?”

“Then what is your intention?”

Aaron spoke to him in German from behind, “We’re wasting our time on him.”

Andrew replied, “We’ll get something. I’m not leaving Neil out of my sight until my suspicion is gone.”

Neil looked blank faced at the conversation but then sighed.

“Look, I – I can’t get into trouble. But I don’t trust you either! You say I’m out to harm Kevin. You say I’m from the Ravens. But what’s proof you’re not the same?”

“Andrew’s a good guy,” Kevin spoke up for the first time since last night. People around them didn’t really understand the nature of agreement between Kevin and him and neither did they ever bother to explain it. People always bitched about Andrew to Kevin and in turn Kevin did his own bitching about him to his face. But Kevin had never so explicitly stated what Andrew was before. Until now.

Kevin didn’t elaborate but Neil seemed to understand. Four words of affirmation from Kevin were apparently enough. He glanced back at Andrew who was quite surprised at Kevin’s admission but tried not to let it show. 

“Can I talk to you alone then?” Neil asked Andrew. Nicky, who was still smarting from Neil’s elbow bravely piped up, “What? No way. We’re staying here in this room. Nuh uh.”

Andrew didn’t hesitate, “All of you, out.”

Even Aaron and Kevin showed a token of protest. Aaron spoke in German again,

“I know he looks harmless but I don’t trust him. We’re right outside if you need us.” Andrew nodded at him. They left the room, Nicky threw dirty glances at Neil and mimicked a knife to his throat. Andrew supposed Nicky looked intimidating if people didn’t actually know him. Neil was unfazed; he had his eyes fixed on Andrew, with a small line between his brows. As if he was wary of letting him out of sight.

“Talk,” Andrew prompted him.

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me a reason why I should believe you’re not a danger to Kevin and why I should let you step a foot within his vicinity.”

“And you think I’m a danger to him because? My binder of Kevin’s news clips? What Exy fan hasn’t kept tabs on the son of legendary Kayleigh Day? And fuck you by the way, for breaking into my safe.”

“What about the rest? Money, fake contacts, a journal full of codes? And what’s the ‘accident’ that supposedly doesn’t let you play exy?” 

Neil’s face scrunched up. “That’s not related to Kevin at all. Look, my father worked for the Moriyamas. He was a small time goon but he knew a lot of names and things. That’s how I know about the other, darker side of Ravens and Riko. My father did something bad and skimmed a lot of money from his boss. They obviously found out and executed him. My mother and I had to go on a run. That journal was my mom’s; she had some contacts which is how she kept us safe. 

But anyways, someone else fucked something else at the Moriyamas and they had a lot of changes. Power shifted hands and now I’m free of their clutch. That’s when I had my accident. Fucked my knee up.” Neil’s voice got strange.

“But you run,” Andrew saw no reason to not press on the wound.

“Part of physical therapy.” He cleared his throat and continued.

“So after the dust settled, I had a chance at college education and I’ll admit I chose Palmetto because Kevin was here. But that’s it. So, you don’t have to worry about me being a mole of Ravens. I hate them and everything they stand for just as much as Kevin does.”

“I doubt that.” Andrew said, remembering Kevin practicing with his injured hand night after night with a vengeance.

Neil silently lifted up his shirt.

Andrew’s breath got stuck in his throat. Neil’s torso was filled with scars. Andrew even saw a scar that was bullet shaped.

Neil spoke, “Now I’ll ask a question. Why are you so concerned about Kevin? He isn’t weak, you know. He’s lived with Ravens, he’s survived them. But you’re willing to drug and kidnap a guy who you are slightly suspicious of, for him?”

Andrew felt he owed the answer to this guy. “After Riko broke his hand, Kevin came here. He was scared, furious and a right pain in the ass. I was here because I had nothing else. Kevin demanded everything from us and I had nothing to give. It’d be an understatement to say we didn’t get along. 

But one day he decided to stop being a fucking coward. He came down in the court and took the exy racket in his right hand, started playing.” 

Andrew laughed a little. “My, the hatred we started receiving once the news broke. We were going to lose our Class A title, there was a mob of angry fans looking for Kevin. He asked me for help. Begged on his knees.”

“I did not beg!” A faint rebuttal came from right outside the door. Neil startled. 

“He so did. Grovelled. And I said fiiiine,” Andrew went right to the door and drew the last word out. Kevin banged on the door.

“So you took an oath to protect him till your dying breath,” Neil summarised, looking a little disbelieving.

“Till the college ends.” Andrew corrected.

“And what does he give you in return? You’re not doing this pro bono.”

It was harder, because Kevin was so obviously listening. So was Nicky, probably.

“He gives me a reason to give a fuck.”

“Romance of the century.” Neil said after digesting that for a second.

“You’ve been obsessed with him since you were a toddler, you’re the one to talk.”

A few beats of silence reigned again. 

“So we’re clear then? What’s the verdict?” Neil asked.

“I’m a criminal justice major, not a law major. Stop with the law terms.”

“Am I going back to Palmetto in one piece?” Neil asked, looking resigned. 

“You’re awfully flippant.”

“I’ve been through worse as you saw. And you’re avoiding the answer.”

Andrew got up and took a bottle of water from the dresser beside the door and handed it to Neil. 

Aaron had made breakfast while they were up there. They ate, cleaned the place up and left. Things were tense but Nicky helped a lot by chattering. Nicky even tried to get a selfie with his new ‘best friend’ that he had to post on his insta. Neil looked more apprehensive of Nicky than anyone else. The Foxes’ tower was closer to the main gate of the campus and House B was a 5 minute walk away but Andrew insisted on dropping Neil all the way to the House.

Naturally they reached within a minute. As Neil got off and began to close the door, Andrew stopped him and asked,

“If I asked you out to Eden’s again, would you come?”

Disbelief turned into suspicion, turned into disbelief again. It was very entertaining; Andrew was slowly beginning to fill the colour on the blank picture that was Neil Josten.

“You seriously think I’d say yes after you drugged me, held me captive and essentially interrogated me?”

“I can’t tell. Hence, the question.”

Neil shook his head and laughed a little. “Win this Friday’s match. Then we’ll have a talk. A long talk, but a talk nonetheless.” He waved at Andrew and disappeared inside House B.

Well now, Andrew better get to practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story's not finished yet, there's more to come. And we're almost at 1000 hits!


	7. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright, a chapter was added so I'm posting today to keep up with the end goal. So surprise chapter!!!
> 
> Some Andrew and Renee interaction in this chapter. And abramwh is back!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings except for some fighting at the beginning but its consensual :)  
> This story was beta-ed by lovely @streetsban who's andreils-bitch on tumblr!!! she's a lovely lovely person

Andrew decided he was not going to the library anymore. Neil would call him out for sure. And he’d realise all the times Andrew was there, probably just for him. He was smart like that, the absolute bastard.

But Neil was a mystery solved. More or less. The only other mystery remained was that of abramwh. He still hadn’t mailed after Friday’s victory. Andrew didn’t care much. No, truly he didn’t. But he has to find out who this person was, right?

The delicate balance of Andrew’s world was shifted again. Andrew didn’t have Neil to stalk, nor did he have abramwh to snark at. So he dragged Renee out for a sparring session.

As he called Renee from her dorm room, Dan and Allison shifted looks between each other. Andrew knew about the bet they had going on and it was precisely why Andrew came up to her room to call her instead of waiting in the parking lot. Renee came out, beaming at him.

“Bye Renee, have fuuuun,” Allison waved at her as they left.

Renee indeed had fun. Within five minutes into their session, she had him cornered with two quick punches and a smack down. It really shouldn’t happen, given Andrew had a better centre of gravity but Renee was just so much faster. Andrew had to keep himself on his toes and she constantly took advantage of that, sweeping him off his feet.

“So Hot Neil’s back in one piece?” Renee asked. She repelled his kick.

“Funny, he said the same thing. And yes.” Andrew blocked her jab while she got another under his arm.

“You really think Ravens sent a guy here to spy on Kevin? Since their coach left, Riko’s been on a bender. I don’t think he’s functional enough to think of Kevin.” A jab at Andrew’s abdomen.

Andrew took it and swung his right hook at her. “He’s not from Ravens. He has his own shit going on.”

“So…” A kick, promptly blocked.

“I’m gonna invite him to Eden’s again.” Two jabs at her head.

Arm around his neck, a punch to his abdomen and a quick jump back. “Roland’s going to be jealous. Careful. Next thing you know, you’re inviting him up to your secret roof.”

A kick at her knees, two jabs from her. “Not so secret, apparently.”

Andrew put his arm around her neck, forcing her down. Quick jabs were exchanged and Andrew was forced to let go to protect his right side. He leaned back. Renee towered over him, putting her arm across his back, shifting up and kicking his knee. Putting another arm under his shoulder, she flipped him over on the ground.

“I looked up once from the parking lot to look at a bird. I saw something small and blond, smoking, instead.”

Andrew was breathing heavily. He closed his eyes for a moment to get his breath under control and got up. They continued.

After they were done and leaving, Andrew asked, “This counts as cardio, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m gonna mail that douchebag that I do cardio. He didn’t send one after Friday’s game.”

“Oh yeah, I was looking forward to it. He’s so entertaining.”

“I need to find this guy and punch him in the face. I haven’t punched anybody in so long, Renee, I feel adrift.”

“You want to come help out at the shelter where I volunteer? They had some heavy boxes delivered; we can use you to carry them in.”

“You’re more than capable, Renee. I believe in you. Go save the world.”

...

It was dinner time when Andrew came back to the Fox tower. When he checked his phone afterward, he had one new mail.

Once again, it was a bullet list of all the things he could’ve improved in Friday's game. There were some comments on Seth and Nicky’s performance. Comment on how Foxes absolutely refused to communicate to each other. Comment about how they exhausted their luck by having two victories in the row and they’d have to actually put some effort in for the next one.

  * ******Good things never come in threes, Minyard. It’s unlikely you’ll win this game. Unless by some miracle you all learn that there’s something called an esprit de corps.**



**Sincerely,**

**Not a fan.**

Andrew was pissed at him like he was never before but also slightly relieved that he had mailed, albeit late.

_ This tardiness will not be tolerated in this fine establishment. I’m afraid we’ll have to let you go without severance. _

_ Insincerely, _

_ M Andrew _

**Why Minyard, you were waiting for my mail? So much masochism.**

_ That would mean this means anything to me. You are nothing. And you’re wrong. We’re going to win this Friday’s game.  _

**We? You and what team?**

_ If we win this Friday, you would have to show your face. _

No immediate reply came. Andrew was lying on his bed, holding the phone up. Excitement trickled in his belly very thinly. Abramwh was considering it.

Seth came in the room to ask Kevin who was studying at the table if they could reschedule tomorrow’s practice. 

“Shouldn’t you ask our O Captain, My Captain? Or coach?” Andrew said.

“Because it’s him who set tomorrow’s practice,” Seth threw a dirty glance at Kevin. “Who keeps practice on Sunday? We just won if you have forgotten.”

“We were lucky, chump. Twice. And good things don’t come in threes.” Andrew still hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen. He wished there was the three dot bubble for mail as well. Why were they doing this over gmail?

Kevin grumbled but didn’t look up from his notes, which meant he agreed with Andrew to some extent. Which meant he agreed with abramwh. Andrew knew he and Kevin would become great friends if they met. Kevin would have one more person to drool over exy with, right along with Neil. Oh hell, if these three meet…

“Shut up Minyard, nobody asked you,” Seth snapped. “Who’re you sexting anyway?”

Andrew picked up his old alarm clock from the ground and hurled it at Seth’s head. He ducked at the very last minute, damn his striker instincts. The clock didn't shatter as Andrew expected.

Kevin turned around to throw a disapproving glance at Andrew; Andrew smiled at him. 

“Go away, Seth. The practice is not changing. Be there on time or you can go join lacrosse,” Kevin said the last word with absolute venom. Seth gagged as well and left muttering obscenities, unclear who they were aimed at.

Abramwh had replied.

**Seeing how little chance you have, I feel comfortable saying, Sure.**

_ Wait and watch. I have something else riding on this match as well. You gonna mail your oh so valuable inputs after open practice on Tuesday? _

**Of course, I’m a fair guy.**

_ Don’t. _

_. _

_. _

**If you wish.**

Andrew balled up a sock lying on his bed and threw it at Kevin’s head. Kevin threw his pen down and turned around, “What?”

“If I get Aaron and Nicky to behave in this week’s practice, would you behave with Matt and Seth?”

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “You’re gonna actually try?”

“ _ I  _ promise nothing. I’m talking about Aaron and Nicky.”

“You’re planning on winning? You know we’re playing Breckenridge Jackals, right?”

Andrew stared blankly at him. He gave as much attention as he could afford on their actual games but all his interest slid away like water drops on waxy leaves in the practices. But he could give Aaron and Nicky’s co-operation, at least for this week. The other major rift was between Kevin and Seth, and Kevin and Matt. Seth was an overall asshole but Matt had some potential to turn games around as he was their strongest player. However, Kevin’s Grade A personality lit Matt’s short fuse on the court.

Andrew would ask Renee tomorrow but her being a goalkeeper, she had less hold over the other girls. Andrew could only hope the others notice the difference in behaviour and try themselves.

He couldn’t keep his attention on the topic for long. It started to bore him in five minutes and his strategizing was halted as he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realise the chapter was kinda short, I'll upload early morning tomorrow :)))


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil gets more involved with the Foxes.  
> There's an unexpected and unwanted guest arriving.
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to @FoxsoulCourt and her long rambly comments that fill me with joy <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo guys, things are happening pretty fast now as we get closer and closer to Friday. Stay tuned!

Andrew made a mental countdown. Monday Morning. Four days and 12 hours till the game.

In the locker room before practice, when they were gearing up, Allison addressed Nicky,

“That selfie of yours is going viral around the campus, Hemmick. You adopted that boy into your little group then? What’s he done to get into it, murder someone?”

“What selfie?” Aaron asked, the boy famously refused to get on any social media. Andrew had accounts even if he rarely used them.

“With that brunet hottie who was with you on Friday night? Renee says he’s the guy that plays baby Exy on that Admin Block Court?”

“He doesn’t play,” Kevin said, still upset by it. Andrew rolled his eyes.

“Guy’s become famous overnight,” Dan said. “Everybody’s wondering who’s the new Monster.”

“First name Nonya, last name Beeswax,” Nicky told her off but nervously looked at Andrew. Andrew shrugged, he himself didn’t know how Shady Neil (New nickname) was going to react, assuming he had Instagram (Very Unlikely).

He wondered if he should hunt Neil down and hide him in a safe dark corner. Neil Josten was definitely a trouble magnet. He needn’t have bothered because Neil was waiting for them in the tower’s parking lot. His teammates also got a second eyeful of them.

“What’s the big deal with him,” Jack scoffed.

“Aw, just because the monsters didn’t adopt you,” Seth egged him on. Jack almost charged him, but Renee held him back. “Punch him once we’re inside please?”

As they neared, Neil looked at Andrew but he spoke to Nicky.

“Take that picture down.”

“Why, you got more to hide?” Andrew answered.

“I don’t want this big ass spotlight on me. My professor came to me in the library and asked me if everything was alright and told me to make an early appointment with Dr Dobson. 7 different girls and 4 different boys have approached me to ask how Kevin Day smells. And I haven't been in any of my classes yet. I can’t imagine sitting in a classroom with the invisible monster stamp on my forehead. Take. It. Down.”

“What did you tell them?” Dan, who was eavesdropping with others from behind piped up. Neil noticed her for the first time.

“What?”

“How does Kevin Day smell?”

“Like three days old socks,” Neil deadpanned. Kevin groaned but Andrew saw the tips of his ears were red. “I’m out of this conversation,” Kevin threw his hands up and left inside the tower. Seth, Allison, Jack and Aaron followed him, no longer interested in the conversation.

“So you don’t want to be associated with us?” Andrew asked.

“It’s okay, Andrew. I’ll take the photo down,” Nicky tried to diffuse the situation.

“I see no benefits. Currently I’m considered a groupie, for the lack of a better word.” Neil shrugged

Matt gasped. Why were they still here? Probably to help if the situation escalated. Neil looked at him and then looked back.

And then he suddenly spoke in German. “Just because I’m a free man, doesn’t mean I still don’t have enemies out there. I don’t want any attention on me.”

Now Nicky gasped. Dan and Matt were confused at the sudden foreign words and Dan looked at Neil closely. No doubt within five minutes everybody was going to know that he spoke German, just like the monsters.

“Interesting talent, wonder boy. What else are you hiding?” Andrew filed that information away. He also filed how hot Neil looked speaking German away for another time.

“Take the photo down, please.”

Andrew grimaced. He didn’t mean to draw this conversation out, but he had stayed standing here in a parking lot, bantering away with Hot Shady Neil.

“Fine whatever,” Andrew spoke in his most level tone. “But you’ll owe me something.”

“Previous condition notwithstanding.” Neil was talking about Eden’s. Andrew shrugged. Nicky immediately whipped his phone out and within three taps, the deed was done.

“There!” Nicky cheerfully said. Neil nodded at him and then at Matt who was still gaping at him. At Andrew, he threw a look of burning intensity (Andrew was really, really biased) and left.

…

Tuesday morning, three days and 12 hours before the game. Coach informed that the open practice was shifted to Thursday.

“A day before the game? We need to actually practice. We’ve been doing so good the last two days!” Dan exclaimed and everybody murmured in agreement. The arguments were down by 80% and although they weren’t the most co-ordinated, they were still Class A Exy players and it was starting to show.

“I couldn’t convince the board,” Wymack looked angry and more importantly, disappointed in himself. 

“We can do a fake type open practice for an hour and do our real practice afterwards?” Kevin suggested. 

“I have a submission,” Aaron whined but everybody shushed him. 

Two days and 4 hours before the game, on Wednesday, the news broke. Riko Moriyama, the number one player of College Exy, was coming to watch the Fox vs Jackals match with Palmetto.

It was unusual for Exy players to go watch other college’s matches. One, they all had classes and their own matches. And second, nobody really cared about other colleges if they weren’t facing them on the court. 

But Riko was coming to Friday's game. Whatever energy the Foxes had built up, crumpled like a messed up soufflé. The news broke mid practice and Kevin didn’t run only because he had made that promise to Andrew. 

Did Andrew care that Riko fuckface was going to be occupying one tiny seat out of thousands in their court on Friday? No.

Did Andrew realise that nonetheless, others cared about him and it was likely they were going to tank the Friday’s game, resulting in two personal losses for him? Ah shit.

Riko’s coming was personal only to Kevin. The others had nothing to do with him. But the Foxes understood the meaning of loyalty, if nothing else. It was an open secret that Riko was the reason Kevin’s hand was broken. Riko obviously wasn’t coming to watch a game not even played in his own region. He was coming for Kevin, to humiliate him, to make him see how far he’s fallen or worse, to hurt him more tangibly. 

In the silent moments after Nicky read the news off his phone, everybody sat to ruminate over the news and came to the same conclusion. They had to win Friday's match. What was enthusiasm before, now became fierce energy.

What was unnatural and bargained cooperation before, now became a mutual understanding to show Riko that the Foxes will not let one of their own fall. When Wymack came to the court, apprehensive to face them due to the same news, he was met with hard faces and a wall of intangible protection around Kevin Day. 

Dan spoke, saving coach the trouble, “We heard about Riko coming. We know we’re not the Ravens, but he’s definitely not going to see the doormat team everybody considers us to be. We have two days, tell us what to do.”

Andrew thought they could’ve really used abramwh’s help then; his unbiased and intelligent suggestions were exactly what their scared yet spirited team needed. But wait a minute, Andrew knew one more exy fanatic. While the others started warming up, Andrew called out,

“I’ll be back in a minute.” He was met with a chorus of curses and protests.

“Andrew we have no time to spare,” Wymack called out.

“I’ll warm up on the way,” Andrew replied and left.

And that is how the Palmetto university resident students were greeted to the sight of Andrew Minyard jogging through the campus. All the way to House B. 

No time for subtleties, Andrew thought as he directly went up to Neil’s room. Fortunately, Neil was in. He looked understandably stunned at having their Exy Goal keeper at his door, sweating and panting.

“You owe me a favour,” Andrew reminded him.

“I-” Neil glanced back at something. Andrew looked around him to see an old duffel bag on the bed, half full.

“Going somewhere?”

“Nope,” Neil answered, a little too quickly in Andrew’s opinion. “Bringing my clothes down to the laundry. What was the favour?”

Andrew filed the information for later use and told him what he wanted. 

Neil stared for a moment and gave off a hysterical laugh. Andrew told him to hurry. 

Five minutes later, the Foxhole Court saw Neil Josten walk in from the players’ entrance onto the main court. He looked calm but Andrew noticed the look of awe on his face as he took in the whole court. Not even Jack had that look when he was recruited and came on the court for the first time. Their entry drew the Foxes’ attention. Most of the Foxes knew Neil by face at least. Wymack didn’t.

“Who’s this?” 

“Kevin Day certified Exy Freak. Thought he could help us.”

“You’re helping? Why? I’ve had to bribe you to even come on the court in the first year.”

“I’m offended, coach, I obviously care whether we win Friday’s game or not.” 

Neil broke into a small smile. Coach took a step toward him, sizing him up and Andrew literally felt Neil’s defences go up. Wymack then looked back at Kevin who gave a small nod. 

Wymack looked back, “I could always use a second pair of eyes. You better not blab about this to anyone.”

“Don’t worry, Coach. He’s got no friends,” Andrew shrugged and Neil laughed instead of taking any offence. Jesus, Neil, give a man a warning.

Coach asked his name and if he knew everybody on the court. When Neil answered, Coach sent him to the opposite side of the court and asked him to take notes.

And that was it. Nicky whispered to Andrew on his way to goal post, “Can we make him an honorary Fox?”

“You son of a bitch, I’m in,” Andrew pointed finger guns at him.

Neil thumped on the wall and pointed at his non-existent watch. Andrew flipped him off. While Wymack had only told him to take notes, that didn’t deter Neil from yelling his suggestions mid play. Wymack gave a look to Kevin that said something like, ‘Control your child.’ But since Kevin was largely absent from Neil’s yelled suggestions, he shrugged. 

After the practice, before coach could give his notes, he asked Neil to show what he had written down. 

He had a very point wise summary of his findings which were largely technical. He hadn’t suggested improvements, rather things that the players could do but missed the opportunity for it. He admitted he was a little weak in technicalities related to the dealers but he’d pointed out everything he could find about the backliners, strikers and goalkeepers.

One thing he didn’t comment on was Kevin’s quite apparent fear of hard stick checks. The Foxes had noticed it since the first match. Whenever the opponent's backliner or striker gave a check a bit too hard, Kevin instantly relented. Coach had tried to talk to him about it and Kevin fully agreed. Andrew knew how hard he practiced in his midnight sessions. But it was understandable why he was unable to do so. It was quite apparent to everybody who watched it. But Andrew thought only he understood why Neil didn't comment on it. Neil understood something about a crippling injury that took everything from you.

Coach corrected him on certain accounts, things he missed because he was watching from one side of the court and added his own notes. Coach dismissed everybody and told Neil to stay back. 

Andrew again saw Neil’s figure tense up. Before leaving for the lockers, Andrew brushed his shoulder against his and looked at him with a question in his eyes. Neil looked back.

“You want me to stay?” Andrew verbalised.

Surprise flitted across his face but he shook his head. 

Neil and the coach talked for a good half hour. Andrew knew because he waited outside. Neil didn’t know because he violently started as he came outside and Andrew asked from the dark parking lot,

“What did you talk about?

“Jesus, Andrew!” Andrew liked Neil’s ambiguous accent pronouncing his name. “We talked mostly about Jackals and tomorrow’s open practice.” He started talking and walking but Andrew stopped him.

“Stop walking everywhere like a heathen. Get in the car,” Andrew motioned towards his car.

“My dorm is literally a five minute walk away. You should know, you broke into it once.”

Andrew only flashed a wide smile and opened the passenger door.

“We also talked about Riko,” Neil said reluctantly as he sat in. 

“About how he’s a giant scum?” 

“That he’s coming for Friday’s game. Question, does your coach not know about Ravens or-”

“He probably gave you a PG 13 version, he doesn’t trust you yet.”

“Good, I don’t trust him either.”

“Is there anyone in this world you trust?”

Neil didn’t say anything. Andrew knew he was looking at him but he’d rather not think about it. They arrived at House B.

“See you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooooo Riko's coming! What shit storm can he stir up?? Also guys I love y'all comments so much!


	9. 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riko and Foxes come face to face. Yikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kid you not I actually dreamed last night that I received a lot of nice comments on the fic... Damn, the need for validation runs deep. But you guys are really the best and I did wake up to some really cute comments!

There was a buzz on campus that Riko was here already. 

“Does this guy have no classes?” Nicky bemoaned, lying on the couch. “What’s he even here for, a day early?”

“We have open practice- ahh,” Aaron gasped. “Is that why our day was shifted to Thursday? What the hell? Can Riko do that?”

Kevin stopped stirring his herbal tea and left the room with the door banging behind him. Andrew swatted Aaron on the head and went after Kevin. 

He didn’t have to go very far; Kevin was hyperventilating in the hallway.

“Do you need a paper bag to breathe into?” Andrew asked with his hands shoved into his pockets. Kevin was not the kind of person who appreciated touch of any kind when he was in his panic mode. He did not have much positive association with it.

At same time, the elevator door opened and out came Matt and with him, Neil. He had a panicked expression on his face, not unlike Kevin.

“I found him in the parking lot,” Matt explained. “He’s saying he’s not coming to the open practice today- oh. Kevin?”

“Riko’s coming to Palmetto today, possibly for the open practice,” Neil said with a tight mouth.

“Oh yeah, Kevin, what should we do? Wait, why do you care?” Matt turned to Neil.

“Matt, get out,” Andrew ordered.

“We’re in a hallway,” Matt snapped, getting frustrated with the non answers.

“Fine, Kevin get your ass up and Neil follow me.” He took both of them in his dorm, leaving fuming Matt behind. 

He sat the two panicking babies down on the couch and asked Aaron to fetch a bottle of water. 

“Alright, let’s get one thing clear. Riko cannot do anything to you. He’s a child and he’s on our territory. The most he can do is throw taunts at us. But he can’t touch any of you. I won’t let it happen, you understand?” Andrew was mostly addressing Kevin but he knew that Neil was getting the message as well.

“We have some warning, we know he’ll be there,” Nicky piped up. “We can bring our A game to show him. Don’t worry Kevin, all of us are with you.” He took the bottle from Aaron and told Kevin to drink. 

Andrew opened the door to Matt who was still loitering outside, now joined by Dan and Allison. He nodded at them to come inside and while they were rushing in, he slipped Neil outside. Nothing he wanted to say to Neil required an audience and he was pretty sure Neil wouldn’t appreciate it either. He nudged him up towards the roof.

It was bracingly cold outside but Neil walked to the edge. The cold wind seemed to have calmed him down a bit. Andrew took out a cigarette and offered one to Neil. Neil took it and had Andrew light it. They stood together for a moment.

“I’m not coming to the open practice,” Neil said.

Andrew waited for him to elaborate.

Neil sighed, realising it. “I know Tetsuji and Riko have nothing to do with their murderous brothers but I still can’t risk it.”

“I doubt Riko knows anything about some low level goon who stole from his estranged father’s Mafia empire. Let alone his son.”

Neil was playing with the cigarette, not really smoking it. 

“Is that why there was a duffel bag on your bed? You were leaving?”

“Didn’t forget that, did you?” Neil scoffed.

“I have a good memory.” 

Neil’s face twisted. Andrew knew the power of trauma and he didn’t want to press Neil. But he couldn’t let it go either.

“One day or another, you have to stop running.”

“I thought I had,” Neil muttered. Andrew put his cold hand on the back of Neil’s neck. Neil shivered and looked at him. His lips were bitten red. 

“Plus, running only works when nobody’s looking.” Andrew said.

“Who’s looking?” Neil looked up at him, all earnest. Andrew decided to not answer that question.

“You have a chance at life here, don’t be a coward,” Andrew said in a low voice instead. Possibly to Neil, possibly to himself. He leaned forward, half a breath away from Neil. 

Neil met him there. 

Every nerve short circuited in Andrew’s body and despite the chill, Andrew felt hot all over. But Andrew pulled back almost immediately because A) Neil was just coming out of his panic and wasn’t thinking straight and B) Andrew was partially drugged.

“You’re coming to the Practice, giving your pearls of wisdom. We’re going to win tomorrow’s game and we’re going to Eden’s afterwards.” And I’m kicking abramwh’s ass, Andrew thought to himself. “Riko does not and should not be factored in any of the equations. Understood?”

Neil nodded. The ice blue of his eyes was almost taken over by his blown pupils. Andrew briefly rested his forehead against his, breathed in the air between them and collected himself. It was very hard for his drugged mind to hold onto a thought but he tried his hardest to hold on to this moment. 

Tomorrow, he reminded himself.

...

Andrew didn’t know how he sat through the day’s classes but he did. Nicky sent photos taken by people who spotted Riko coming in on their group. There was already a lot of buzz surrounding it. Nicky captioned the photo, ‘thank god we don’t have to play the ravens in our region’. 

Immediately, Kevin left the chat group. Nobody was really concerned because he was a dramatic bitch who would leave the group over something as small as throwing shade at Exy. But he usually yelled a lot before.

Dan added him back after a minute. Everybody had classes, yet everybody was apparently on their phones, waiting for updates. Andrew had taken Neil’s number before leaving, Neil used an iphone 4, what a dinosaur. But at least it was a smartphone. He wondered if he should add him to the group or separately send the updates to him; he’d surely want to know too. It was like the tiger had broken out of his zoo enclosure and it was absolutely imperative everyone knew where he was at all times. 

Which is why it was a bit anticlimactic when the open practice actually started. They had a record number of audience in the bleachers and at first the Foxes didn’t even see Riko. Someone even tried to blare out the Raven’s victory song but was effectively shut down. Really, what were they expecting? A fight to break out? Andrew was looking out for Neil instead, but he couldn’t spot him either.

A stab of fear went through him. Did he run?

But no, there he was, coming in from the players’ entrance. He was walking so stiff, Andrew wondered if he had replaced his spine with wood. It was a big statement indeed, having Neil out with them at the open practice, regardless of Riko’s presence. It wasn’t an entirely fair way to cash in on the favour, having his association announced to a court of full student in exchange of deleting the proof of association from social media. But Neil was here, resolutely not looking at the audience.

“Just one hour.” Andrew heard Matt comfort Kevin. “20 minutes warm up, 20 minute scrimmage and 20 minute drills. A great rehearsal for tomorrow, wouldn’t you say? Really Riko’s doing us a favour here, coming in early, taking the pressure off the game.”

Coach asked Nicky to put his phone down and start with the warm ups. Nicky waved at him, continuing scrolling for a bit. Then suddenly he stopped scrolling, stared at the screen and looked up, running his gaze over to the big box where the VIPs usually sit. He hurriedly put the phone down and joined others in jogging.

Andrew kept one eye at Kevin and another at Neil. Renee was running with him but she was silent, guessing she won’t get any reply today. To her surprise, he started talking. Their usual nonsensical stuff. They were discussing Gatorade flavours today. Neil was busy conferring with Coach; Wymack handed him a sheet and explained something as Neil was nodding. Warm up ended soon and Neil was ready with the equipment. The jobs which Wymack usually delegated to subs or one of the players, Neil was handling them.

Seth, Jack, Aaron, for that matter even Allison ranged from hostile to indifferent towards Neil’s presence there. But Kevin co-operated with him; Matt was warm towards him which is why Dan was as well. Renee treated him as she treated everybody, with serene acceptance and Nicky tried to give him a high five after he did every small thing.

Andrew… Andrew couldn’t figure out how to react to him. Granted, it was his idea to bring Neil to help out with their practice and he was proving fairly useful. But it was Neil! Hot brunet Neil. Hot Brunet Shady Neil. Whom he had kind of stalked since the beginning of the year. Whom he had kissed this morning. Neil threw him small tight smiles every time they looked at each other and he wasn’t yelling out his suggestions as much, trying to draw as little attention as possible.

People had started leaving the stadium. Riko was holed up in the VIP box and Foxes were playing as usual, except for the new guy running around the coach. 40 minutes had passed and it was boring now. News spread that Vixens were practicing near ABC and more people left. Only the regulars and a few more remained.

It was the regulars who could see the difference. They saw that Kevin was quiet. They saw Jack giving him a wide berth like he was a live wire when usually he was always eager to bodycheck him. They saw Aaron and Nicky co-operating with strikers and dealers.

Not a single fight had broken out today. The warmups were without any bitching, the scrimmage was tame and in similar fashion did the drills pass. The new guy was running around, setting the cones, getting more balls, and passing messages from the coach. Less assistant coach and more assistant to the coach.

The open practice ended and the Foxes went inside to the lockers. Most of the regulars had also left towards the end but few stragglers were there. Wymack dispersed them.

They gathered in the locker room for the next, real instructions, waiting for Wymack. A few minutes passed and the Foxes started stirring impatiently when he walked in. With Riko in tow. He was wearing black from head to toe, a number 1 tattooed on his cheekbone. It was the first time since the accident Riko was in the same room as Kevin. But if Riko had come to try something, he couldn’t have picked a worse situation. He was in Foxhole court’s locker room, surrounded by all the Foxes who were sweaty and on an edge. He was alone, none of his usual entourage with him. Kevin had half expected Jean Moreau to come with but no, Riko was truly alone, standing in front of them.

It was the only reason Andrew hadn’t lunged forward and torn the guy’s throat off.

“Hello everybody,” Riko pleasantly smiled at them, the same smile Andrew had seen on Kevin’s face when they had press duty, only smoother.

“Everybody, this is Riko Moriyama, starting striker for the Ravens,” Coach introduced unnecessarily.

Dan went ahead in a stupid show of bravery and extended a hand, “Danielle Wilds, Captain. The only female one in Class A.”

A faint distaste came and went over Riko’s face before he extended his own hand. They shook briefly and Dan stepped with a smile.

“No need for introduction, I know all of you. Except him,” Riko nodded towards Neil who was trying to disappear into the wall. “I believe we haven’t had the pleasure. You’re not a player.” He said the last sentence like a question.

“That’s Neil Josten, a freshman here. He’s helping me out.” Coach said when Neil made no efforts to speak.

“We were wondering what brought you out here, so far away from home,” Matt spoke.

Riko moved his gaze away from Neil. “To watch tomorrow’s game of course. It’s a pretty important game to keep your ranking for the championships, is it not? And I thought I’d meet some old friends.” He glanced at Kevin. “Make some new ones.” He glanced at Neil.

Was Neil right in being paranoid?

Riko definitely hadn’t come for Kevin, had he? He didn’t have that pull over Kevin. Kevin had once explained that Tetsuji had handed Kevin off to Riko. He was Riko’s property. But it was Tetsuji that kept them in place. Riko was a loose cannon without him and it was showing. The Ravens had lost three out of 8 games in the season so far, an unprecedented situation. They would definitely make it to the final rounds but people wondered if they’d go past the semi-finals. Kevin owed everything to Tetsuji but Riko, he just feared. Fear was easier to get over than respect.

But then why Neil? How unstable had Riko become to come after a dead enemy’s son? That too not even his enemy. Or was there something Neil wasn’t telling Andrew?

“Can’t imagine you’re wanting for friends,” Neil spoke, fidgeting.

But Riko pretended he didn’t hear it. “We haven’t seen each other since he came down here, our dear Kevin. Everyone misses you and we’re so concerned. We’ve watched your matches. So skittish of hard stick checks. Poor dear’s afraid of breaking his remaining hand.”

Everyone turned to look at Kevin. Kevin turned white.

“Isn’t this a fun reunion!” Andrew spoke with manic cheer he recalled from his fully drugged days. “But I think we’ve had enough. We’re tired, we need to rest for tomorrow’s game. You can go now.”

“Oh? You guys weren’t planning on practicing more after the open practice? That’s when the real practice starts, right? At Evermore we practice for 10 hours of the day. I guess that’s the difference between you and us. But go on, do the ‘real training’. I want to see how much the new guy helps. He’s quite the name around campus here. Some student who knows a lot about Exy but doesn’t play it? Why don’t you play, Neil?”

“You clearly snooped around here. Did nobody tell you?” Neil was playing with the hem of his t-shirt; he’d been restless ever since Riko came in.

Riko’s pleasant face suddenly became vicious, “I want to hear the truth. I don’t want the lies you feed to your ‘friends’ just so they won’t turn away from you in disgust and fear.”

“What the fuck is he talking about?” Jack whispered to Andrew who was closest to him. Wymack took a step back and pulled his phone out, clearly texting the security guard at the gate. Riko noticed the movement and his face became smooth again.

“Coach Wymack, can I have a casual chat with Neil? His apparent talents fascinate me so.”

“There’s nothing you have to say to Neil that you can’t say in front of us,” Wymack said firmly.

“Oh well, I wish it didn’t come to this.” Riko looked disappointed… but not really. There was a manic glint in his eyes that Andrew didn’t like. Oh Andrew so wished they could tell him to fuck right off. But Riko had done nothing wrong, except maybe take up some time. He was deliberately skirting that line and it infuriated Andrew. And also, it looked like Riko knew something about Neil. Something he clearly thought was so damning, he flew all the way out here to tell.

Andrew still had his knives on him. One wrong move, one wrong syllable and Riko Moriyama was going down then and there, consequences be damned.

“I don’t see what you might have to say to me. We’ve never met before, but now that I’ve had the misfortune; I hope it never happens again.” Neil spat but with a tinge of fear to his voice.

“Have we? Never met before? Ha!” Riko laughed. “Next thing you’ll say you’ve never met Kevin before. What a selective memory.”

“We.. haven’t?” Kevin spoke up. “Riko, why are you here?” Kevin’s voice was low but apparently he was too confused to stay silent on the matter. Riko looked in astonishment.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t recognize Nathaniel Wesninski, Kevin!”

Kevin stumbled back against the lockers, crashing loudly into them.

“Wesninski?” Coach mumbled, trying to place the name.

“Of course,” Riko said to Coach and turned back to Neil who was suddenly immobile. “The hair is different and obviously the name- quite frankly I expected you’d take your mom’s name, Hatford, wasn’t it?- but the eyes are just like your father’s!”

Andrew saw Kevin whip his head towards Neil, searching his eyes. And the way his face changed, yes, Riko was right. Whoever Neil’s father was Kevin knew him enough to place his eyes on his son’s face.

“Wesninski,” Kevin mirrored Coach, but unlike Coach, he could very well place the name.

“Will some one explain what the fuck is going on? Who’s Wesninski?” Andrew had had enough.

“A very close employee of my father,” Riko provided the information all too quickly. “We used to play Exy together, as children. Kevin, Nathaniel and Me. He was given to us, just like Kevin and Jean. Shame his mom stole from us and ran away with him, or he’d be the one sporting Number Three tattoo today instead of Jean. How’s the mother, still alive? Or you killed her just as you killed your dad?”

Collective gasps went around the room and everybody looked at Neil with absolute distrust. Particularly Kevin.

Riko looked positively gleeful, he was reveling in outing Neil’s secrets in front of everyone. He probably didn’t even know how deep that attack went. To others, it was mostly just hiding his true identity. But to Andrew and other monsters, it was an outright lie. It was betrayal.

“I didn’t-“ Neil feebly tried.

“You definitely did. Your dad was killed because your mom stole from us and took you away. And why did she do that? Because she hated Exy, because she didn’t want you to play Exy with us.”

“That’s a lie-“

“Oh Neil Neil… It’s the past, I understand but I’m surprised you didn’t tell these people. Especially considering you’re hanging around Kevin here. Or do you have more skeletons in your closet that we don’t know about? Oh Nathaniel Abram Wesninski, what are you hiding?”

Andrew’s attention, which so far was trained on Neil’s wide eyes, snapped back to Riko’s face. “What did you say?” Andrew asked in a frigidly low voice.

Riko looked irritated at the interruption, “I said, he’s definitely hiding more. I just thought his newest friends should no-“

“What did you say his name was?” Andrew asked again.

“Nathaniel Abram Wesninski. He’s had many names over the years I suppose but that’s his one true name.”

Andrew slowly turned to Neil. There was some colour back in his face. Andrew couldn’t believe he kissed that same face a few hours ago.

“Abram Wesninski Hatford.”

He heard a soft gasp which was probably Renee’s. A lot of things quickly started to make sense. Every conversation, every instance, every memory of Neil and abramwh fell into place and things started to make sense.

It was the straw that broke the back. Andrew lunged towards Neil, who couldn’t manage to move out of the way. Every muscle in Andrew’s body recoiled as his first punch landed in Neil’s solar plexus but Andrew’s brain was a vicious wasteland. Andrew remembered how he wanted to break the stupid cheekbone just so he could stop getting distracted. Well nobody was stopping him now, not even Neil who only raised his arm to cover his head.

But no, apparently people were stopping him. Renee was immediately behind him, pulling his arms behind. Andrew broke free at first and went at Neil again, all the muscles in his body curiously resisting but Matt came to help by pulling Neil away. Andrew fruitlessly collided at the wall instead and Renee got his arms behind again. As soon as Neil was out of sight however, Andrew’s rage slipped away. It was probably the first time Andrew was grateful for his half assed medication. Would they put him back fully again? Andrew wondered.

“Oh dear, I probably shouldn’t have disclosed that in front of a drugged up maniac.” Riko did not sound remorseful, at all.

In the moment that reigned silent, they could hear the security guard’s footsteps.

“It’s better if you go,” Coach said. It was unclear to whom.

Renee asked Allison and Matt to stand in front of them to hide bound Andrew from the guard. A

ndrew wanted to tell it wasn’t needed anymore but he wasn’t sure himself.

The cold metal of the locker slowly warmed up as Andrew laid pressed against it. He focused all of his attention towards the heat getting drawn from his body to the metal and let his thoughts calm down. It was one of the techniques Bee had suggested. Take one sense and let all others be attuned to it.

Which is why he didn’t hear the footsteps fading away.

“Kevin,” Dan asked, “Care to explain? Who is Neil?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is now officially my most read story so yay!! Also props to people who can spot the Office reference.


	10. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought maybe I should split the chapter to create a cliffhanger but I was like nahhhh...

Coach still made them practice after he came back to the locker room.

“We have a match tomorrow in case you people forgot. Get going.”

They all came on the court and started again from the warm up. Everybody was too stunned from the story Kevin told to complain. Kevin himself didn’t know much, but he knew enough.

“Can’t believe I took a selfie with the son of a mobster,” Nicky said.

“Can’t believe we drugged and held captive the son of a mobster,” Aaron added.

“You did what?” Allison asked, who was unfortunately nearby.

“Can’t believe the son of a mobster lied and painted himself a victim,” Nicky said, ignoring Allison.

“You guys, we don’t know the whole story. We’re going by what Riko Fuckface told us and Kevin remembers from a decade ago,” Renee said, very uncharacteristically dropping an F bomb. “Let’s not judge him by his past. Didn’t you guys see, if Neil truly had something to hide why would he have come to help us at the open practice and face Riko?”

Andrew was listening to chatter. In the sense that the words were falling in his ears and getting processed. But Andrew let everything wash over him. He didn’t want to have to do anything with Neil Josten. Or abramwh. Or whoever the fuck he was.

**_You called me Abram. That’s good enough. It’s truer than any other name._ **

Andrew now had a voice to all the mails. He had a face. He could imagine Neil saying them, his dry sarcastic tone, his fierce refusal at letting drunk Andrew confess, his advisory at staying away from people named Drake. Fuck, why did it hurt?

The practice ended and Andrew checked his phone. There was nothing. Andrew didn’t know what he expected. A message from Neil? An email from Abram? Did he care about them both? He had a game tomorrow that he had to win. Did he care about that either?

The Fox tower had a gymnasium in the basement and it had a punching bag. That punching bag was going to suffer tonight.

…

Andrew didn’t end up sleeping that night. But he still woke up with bruised knuckles and sore arms. He couldn’t regret it though, it was better than punching something else. Kevin didn’t sleep either, as evidenced by the heavy bags under his eyes. Neil was a powerful drug and this was the immediate withdrawal crash. Even Matt felt his absence; he texted in the afternoon that Neil wasn’t in class. Andrew felt a little weird. There was no reason for Neil to miss his classes, or did he miss because of Matt?

Andrew was thinking while he was going to the next classroom and didn’t even realise what he was doing until he was completely out of the building and walking towards House B. He immediately turned around and went back to his class.

They were supposed to be in the stadium quarter after six which meant the Foxes were having a light supper at 5.30. The afternoon practice was off and Andrew had the whole time to do nothing but think.

And it was between all the thinking Andrew realized he needed to know the truth. He didn’t care if Riko was right or if there was more to it. He just needed to know from Neil’s mouth what the truth was. 

He’d skipped the sleep but Kevin didn’t let him skip the food. “You have no hope of fighting the withdrawal in the first half if you don’t eat, Minyard. Get it together,” Kevin practically made him sit down.

Andrew scarfed his food down and ran out before anyone could stop him. He got his car to House B and went up to Neil’s room.

This time he knocked. And the door opened. Some tall blonde guy was standing in the frame.

He recognized him. “Andrew Minyard? Don’t you have a game right now?”

“Where’s Neil?” He shoved past him. Neil wasn’t there.

“Idk man, haven’t seen him since last night. He texted around lunch saying he was leaving. Dunno where.”

Faint bells rang in Andrew’s mind. He went to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer. He pulled the safe out and pulled a small knife out of his arm band.

“Hey!” Blondie protested from behind him but Andrew merely flashed the same knife at him. Blondie backed away. Andrew kept the knife at him until blondie completely left the room.

Maybe it was because Andrew’s hands were shaking or perhaps because Andrew was afraid for something else but it took solid 5 minutes for the safe to open.

Nothing was amiss. Everything was in its place as it was the last time Andrew saw it. The cash, the journal, the binder, the passports. So, Neil hadn’t run away. Then where was he since last night? Why did he text his roommate he was leaving? Maybe he left, but not voluntarily?

Andrew went directly to the court. But there was so much traffic in between, he was almost late. It was 6.25 when he reached. His phone was buzzing but seeing that it wasn’t Neil, he didn’t pick it up.

As soon as Andrew stepped through the Athlete’s entrance Coach dragged him to the changing room.

“Where the fuck were you?” Dan exploded. “We were almost about to come out and ask the campus police to search for you.”

“Neil’s not in his room.” Andrew answered instead.

“What?” Kevin asked.

Seth interjected, “Can we shut up about Neil already? We have a game which we almost were disqualified from because one of our goalies was out looking for his boytoy.”

Now’s not the time, Andrew told himself. “Apparently he hasn’t been in the room since last night and he texted his room mate ‘he’s leaving’. No explanation. All of his stuff is there. All of his ‘important’ stuff.”

“Uhh, guys,” Matt called from behind, he had his phone in the hand. “Riko’s gone as well”

A chorus of questions rose. Wymack shushed them and asked Matt to explain.

“Apparently some stalker Raven fan saw Riko’s car leaving the guest house and instead of turning towards the Court, it turned to the main gate. So they followed and saw him leave.”

“Was there anybody else in the car?”

“Bastard always has tinted glasses on whatever car he rents,” Kevin answered.

“He’s not doing what we’re all thinking… right?” Nicky asked. “I thought Riko and his Mafia brother weren’t allowed to interact at all. He surely can’t be taking Neil to them.”

Hearing it in words out loud made Andrew’s stomach lurch painfully.

“He’s gone mental however. That’s a thing to consider. Without Tetsuji-“

Somebody came in. “You’re due on court, they’re calling for you.”

Everybody looked at each other. “What do we do?” Dan asked.

“We play!” Seth threw his hands up. “Look guys, it’s sad, okay? But he chose his fate! He’s the son of a literal mobster! I googled him last night, his dad is literally called the Butcher of Baltimore.”

“Hey I’ve heard of him,” Renee exclaimed. Allison looked at her.

“What we do, is we go out there and play the goddamn game!” Seth continued. “This was the best week of practice I’ve had in two years, yesterday notwithstanding. I’m not letting it go to waste. This is my final year, for fuck’s sake. Rest in fucking Peace, Neil Whatever, we have Jackals to defeat.”

Wymack gently tapped Andrew’s shoulder. “Give me Riko’s car’s description. I have a friend in the police force, he’s gonna get an anonymous report of a suspicious activity.”

Kevin instantly provided the details, there was hope in his voice. He was looking at Wymack with a little bit of reverence.

“We don’t know if he’s gone unwillingly. If he’s gone willingly, they can turn on us. These are dangerous people,” Aaron pointed out.

“And he’s lied to us. He probably had an ulterior motive all along,” Andrew added. Nicky looked at him in astonishment but Andrew had his gaze fixed on the coach's face. “Why should we help him?”

Coach met his eyes squarely, “Because I can live with the consequences if we help and he didn't need it. I can’t live with it if we didn’t, but he needed it.”

The guy who had come earlier came running again. “Hey folks, move your asses!”

Coach motioned them to go and pulled his phone out. He told Andrew to get changed, being a Goalkeeper, he didn’t have to do the whole 20 minute warm up but he had to be there nonetheless.

Jack, Nicky and Allison were at the sidelines. Nicky tried to decide hand signals to communicate updates if any when Jack acidly informed them they couldn’t afford to be distracted against the Jackals. The Breckenridge Jackals were the best team in their region. They were huge and The Gorilla was back on the roster. The six- and half-foot giant was looking very menacing indeed.

“You know part of the reason we were able to get to the third spot last year was because The Gorilla was on academic probation then,” Nicky helpfully informed Jack.

“Ah shit,” Jack muttered while Nicky patted his back. 

“Don’t worry, there are bigger options for him to crush.”

As Andrew took his position by the goal, he tried to focus on the players in front of him. It was easier since he was off his meds completely. It was harder because he couldn’t tell if he was shaking because of withdrawals or because of the unbidden thought of Neil lying motionless in the back of Riko Fuckface’s car.

He had the next forty-five minutes to play.

…

The situation was 2-3 in Jackal’s favour when half time rolled around. His stomach was turning inside out but Andrew was used to it by now. But it didn’t make it any less nauseating.

He calmly walked towards the Coach. Wymack tried to say something but Andrew halted him and held his hand out. Coach sighed and steered him away from public eyes and dropped his meds on the hand. Andrew stared at him.

“That’s your regular dose,” Wymack admonished.

“I don’t think my regular dose would be sufficient tonight,” Andrew said in all honesty. Wymack considered and let him have his old dose. Andrew swallowed them dry and sat down on the bleachers. He picked up a bottle of water and drank half of it, not caring for the stitches he was definitely getting. Tomorrow he would go back on the regular reduced dose. He would battle extra withdrawal. But he needed to go through tonight without any incident. Did Andrew hate this? Did he hate that he knew himself so well he knew how to regulate his mood like a fucking dial? 

Too late to think about those questions.

“You could’ve taken pills  _ with  _ the water,” Kevin said, who was sitting beside him, loosening his gloves. Andrew saw his hands were shaking as well. The Jackals had definitely caught onto Kevin’s weakness and The Gorilla tried his best to stick check Kevin so hard his racket would fly off.

“You think I have time for things like that?”

Once his stomach stopped riding the waves, he approached Coach.

Before he could open his mouth, Coach said, “I have some news but it’s best I tell you after the game ends.”

“Here’s an idea. You tell me now or I go out there and tell the Jackals I was sober for the first half.”

Coach sighed. “They found Riko’s car. Neil was with him. Conscious, sitting in the passenger seat. He had a shiner on the cheekbone but he said he was with Riko on his own.”

“That’s so clearly a lie!” Nicky protested from somewhere behind. Andrew didn’t realise everyone was clearly paying attention.

“That’s what he said-“ everybody voiced their disbelief, even Seth scoffed. “But,” Wymack raised his voice. “But he said he forgot something crucial back home and he’d like to come back.”

“What?” Kevin sputtered.

“Yup,” Wymack shook his head. “The kid can’t lie. But he said something like he needed to get something but Riko had a flight to catch which he can’t miss so he must get ahead and then asked my friend for a ride.”

Wymack shushed the cheer that erupted as people started looking over.

“Riko had to let him go and Neil got the police to escort him till Palmetto.”

“So he’s here?” Andrew asked, looking around him like Neil might be hiding behind Coach’s tall figure.

“He’s at the station. Unfortunately, my friend is a nosy type. Don’t worry, he’s trustworthy. Neil’s not being interrogated.”

“I’m not worried, he usually has his answers prepared,” Andrew said and went back to the bench. He realized what Coach meant by telling him after the game. Andrew couldn’t drive himself to the station nor was anyone free. Public transport was out of question since it was a game night and Andrew was the team member of one of the teams playing. So he had to sit till the game ended, simmering in knowledge that Neil was safe for now, safe as he could be.

…

The news of Neil’s safe return gave a second wind to the Foxes. Truthfully, half of them knew him very little but the guy had a way of getting under your skin. It was also a little bit like hope for the Foxes. If Neil could actually escape the Moriyamas, maybe Kevin could too, one day. Kevin couldn’t see it, but Andrew could, clear as a day (ha!). The Foxes cared for Kevin. And by proxy, they had kind of began to care for Neil as well.

The Foxes played like hell. Kevin was playing like he never had before. He scored two more goals and Seth scored 2 with Jack’s one. But the Jackals were just that much better. They knew that Andrew never played the second half and they saved their best offence for it. Renee tried her hardest but Jackals were infamous for ganging up on the Goalie. By the time buzzer sounded, the score stood at 7-9, jackals’s favour. 

Their victory song started to play and the players had to line up for a handshake. But Andrew simply went ahead and dragged Nicky outside. Coach protested and the referees came running to ask what happened. But coach fended them off saying it was family matter and threw a dirty glance at Andrew for unnecessarily creating drama.

Andrew didn’t even let Nicky change as they came outside and looked for his car. The entire crowd was leaving the court and the roads were choked again. But Nicky turned the car in the opposite direction, further inside the campus and towards the back exit which is usually closed but the guard was bribed to keep it open on game nights. The regulars and the students knew it so there was a little traffic but Nicky bullied forward by incessant horns and asshole-ish taking over. 

Nicky was uncharacteristically silent but as they came outside the campus and he made a big loop to go towards the police station, he spoke, “Do you think Riko got to know about Neil because of my post? The one Neil asked to take down? I exposed Neil’s existence to him.”

“You can’t keep secrets you don’t know, Nicky.” Andrew said. Nicky let out something that sounded suspiciously like a dry sob but Andrew decided he wasn’t going to look. He was googling the Butcher of Baltimore and going through the news articles. 

The only articles he could find were of the death of Nathaniel Wesninski, an infamous gangster in Baltimore (No affiliations with anybody, an  _ entirely  _ independent guy) who died in a gang shootout a few months ago. The other party were some foreign guys with no previous record in the US and thus no means of positively identifying them. The details were hazy. The police were called, they arrested whoever was left and found the body of Nathan, two bullets in heart, one in head. Unfortunately, they couldn’t capture any of the foreign guys, they all had escaped. 

Andrew had three versions of the same story in his head, all with little details missing here and there. It was an interesting puzzle, finding common elements and eliminating the others. It was one true opportunity to whip out a big board and pin all the clues and tie them together with string. Andrew watched murder and crime shows on regular and it was fantastic, having a true mystery unfold in front of him. 

He smiled widely and Nicky sighed. “Maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

“Nonsense! I’m the only person Neil wants to see!” 

They reached the station and they went in to see Neil at the table with a pissed off expression and a bruise on his cheekbone, sitting in front of a police officer who looked equally frustrated.

Andrew laughed, “Oh Neil Neil Neil, are you not getting along with your new playmate?”

“Hey watch it,” the officer stood up and frowned when he saw their Fox uniforms. 

“You Wymack’s kids?”

“Yikes no, that would mean I’m related to Aaron,” Andrew replied. “Come on Neil, playtime’s over, time to go home.”

“Hold up, I need some straight answers and this one refuses to give them,” the Officer looked at Neil. Andrew laughed.

“Uh officer, it’s best you talk to Coach?” Nicky suggested. “Neil’s hurt-” “I’m fine.” “And we need to go back to campus, it’s late.”

Officer shook his head and looked at Neil, “Do you want to go with them? Or are you going to turn back in the middle because you forgot something?”

Andrew laughed again and Neil narrowed his eyes.

He turned to the officer, “I’ll be safe.”

“I punched you just before you left, Neil,” Andrew interjected and Nicky tugged at his sleeve.

“But you came to get me.”

“To punch you some more.”

“Alright that’s enough,” Officer threw his hands up. Nicky quickly helped.

“It’s fine officer, Andrew’s just venting because he’s worried. Neil’s ready to come with us, we’re ready to take him.” He tugged at Andrew’s sleeve again. “Andrew, don’t make this difficult.”

Andrew tried to muster the hate he was feeling when he was sober on the court to level at Neil but his medication wouldn’t let him. He shrugged, “It’s your funeral,” and left to go back to the car.

It was another five full minutes before Nicky came outside with Neil in tow. The officer tagged and stood at the step to watch them get into the car. Andrew waved at him, mockingly. 

Nicky got in the driver’s seat and Neil decided to come to the backseat, where Andrew was sitting.

“Oooh, bravery. Where was it when we demanded the truth from you?” Andrew asked.

“What’s honesty gotta do with bravery?” Neil asked.

“You lied because you were a coward. You lied because you were afraid of rejection.”

“I lied because I was protecting myself.”

“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, Abram,” Andrew mocked but Neil’s eyes became a little softer when Andrew called him that. Ugh, Andrew caught his jaw and turned it away. He felt Neil’s smile against his hand.

“I didn’t want to ask because the officer was there, but are you alright Neil?” Nicky asked. “Will RIko come back for you?”

“If Riko wants to get to me, he would have to physically take me to the Moriyamas. Otherwise, I’m just a Neil Josten, a student at Palmetto. My past records are immaculate and Riko can’t get to his family without any solid evidence. At least that’s the rational thinking. Irrationally, Riko can just bulldoze his way into creating suspicion on me.”

“There’s no way in Hell Riko’s getting you again,” Nicky exclaimed but added in a smaller voice, “Right, Andrew?”

“The only reason Neil’s here and not rotting in the police station is because we hate Riko more than we hate you and the idea of that bastard getting something he wants is absolutely repulsive.” Andrew said this and nothing more. 

Andrew’s phone began to ring; he threw it at Neil. Neil picked up and fended whoever was on the other side. 

“Kevin said to come to.. Uh, Abby’s? Everybody’s there.”

“She’s our medic,” Nicky informed as he rerouted. They stopped in front of Abby’s house. There was Matt’s Jeep and Wymack’s car in the front. Neil began to get out but Andrew stopped him midway by putting his hand on his arm.

“Understand this, Neil. If you go in, you have to come clean. Not to all of them, I don’t care about half the people in there. But to us. To me, Kevin, Nicky, Aaron. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you’re not ready to do that, House B isn’t that far from here, I’m sure your RA can get you an ice pack for that shiner.”

Neil looked at him, really looked at him. Andrew realised he hadn’t done that since the station. Andrew also realised that his earlier hypothesis was wrong. Punching Neil in the face would NOT make him less distracting. 

Neil just nodded and got out. As Andrew saw him walking out, he also saw that Neil was limping a little. Rage whirled uselessly in his mind. It was like listening to furious tornado winds from behind a closed door. Andrew was quite right in increasing his dose for tonight. He internally asked for forgiveness from Bee for abusing his medication like that and got out.

He heard everybody reacting to seeing Neil go inside and waited a moment outside. It wasn’t just Neil whose life was going to change in that moment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo.... thoughts? Next two chapters deal with the aftermath, the whole truth comes out and the loose ends are tied!! We're getting closer to the happy (?) ending!!!


	11. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens in Seattle, comes out eventually.

When Mary Wesninski nee Hatford heard that her only son would be either handed over to Moriyamas (more correctly, Tetsuji and Ravens) or would be executed because he wasn’t good enough to be handed over to Moriyamas, she broke. Whatever life choices she had made until then, she would throw it all away if it meant that her child was going to be taken away from her. 

So they ran. Sweet Nathaniel. He ran with her with blind trust. They lived through harsh conditions, paranoid, never staying in one place, never making connections with their surroundings. He trusted his mom when she hit him for lingering in front of a crowded store. He trusted his mom when she woke him in the middle of the night and told him they had to leave America. When she told him he can’t play Exy anymore. When they didn’t stop running even when his father was imprisoned. When she told him to stop screaming as she poured alcohol over his wound to clean it. When she did not let him out of her sight even when they slept. When she taught him how to use a gun and told him ‘it’s us vs them, Alex’. 

When Mary died in Seattle after running in with his father’s men, Neil didn’t know what to do. He knew he would be even more viciously hunted now that he was alone and so close. He also knew that the first place they would look would be the roads going out of the city. So he stayed in, mixed among the city’s population. 

Neil wondered if Stuart knew his sister was dead. Neil had only heard about this uncle he had. He knew how to contact him, his details were in the journal. But ‘trust no one’, that’s what Mary had said. That’s why she herself never contacted him. ‘We are enough,’ she said. 

Not anymore. Neil knew how to blend in but the bad guys knew what he looked like. He changed his hair colour, but kept the contacts in because he couldn’t afford different coloured ones. There was a citywide manhunt that none of the normal people knew about. After three close encounters, Neil said enough. He couldn’t get out, he couldn’t stay in. People were closing in on him. He said fuck it and contacted his uncle. Unbeknownst to him, his uncle had already come to Seattle to look for him. The communication was brief; Stuart merely told him to go to the FBI. 

“That’s the last resort you have,” he said. “I’m here mostly on my own and I can’t help you directly. But you are a valuable witness, Nathaniel. Contact the authorities.” Stuart told him how to approach the FBI which Neil thought was very puzzling. But things became clear when the FBI officer took him to a hiding place and Stuart came out of the inner room. The FBI and Hatfords had struck a deal together to take down Nathan. 

Neil’s testimony, however, wasn’t enough. Nathan was already jailed for financial crimes and he was already tied to Moriyamas. But the front was that he was a middle level transporter and account handler. Neil did not have much information on their more gristly ventures. And the statement, “I saw them murder a man when I was 10 years old in Evermore’s Exy stadium” wasn’t good enough. The Hatfords were collaborating with the FBI but they couldn’t give anything without incriminating themselves. 

That was when they were informed that Nathan had appealed for an early release on account of good behaviour. It was comical almost, how both the FBI officer on the case and Stuart came to the same plan: To use Neil as a bait. Neil agreed to it, not that anybody explicitly asked if he was okay with it. But he agreed. It was that or either keep running forever.

They arranged Nathaniel Sr.’s release and conveniently let Neil be caught. 

They didn’t count on Lola herself coming down to get Neil. Neil got hurt on the way, but because Nathaniel planned on using Neil yet to appease Moriyamas, he was saved from any injury on visible areas. 

A big shootout happened between Hatfords and Wesninskis. Neil had his kneecap broken, which took months of recovery. Lola and other associates were caught and charged with violent crimes; they gathered a lot of proof at the Wesninski estate where Neil was taken. Stuart exacted revenge by killing Nathaniel and pulling an apologetic face in front of the disgruntled FBI guys. 

It was a brilliant plan because the FBI did not directly go for the Moriyamas; they were too powerful to be attacked directly. Instead, they went for the butcher and they went as an intervention between shootout between the Butcher and an ‘unknown foreign party’. They managed to disrupt the entire eastern seaboard operation of the Moriyamas which caused a lot of panic and Tetsuji was called back for some internal re-organisation. 

The Moriyamas knew it was the Hatfords that came but they wrote it off to family revenge due to Mary’s death. The entire blame was put on Nathan, who was fortunately, dead already. The son, who could’ve been a valuable repayment in form of Exy, had his knee broken and was taken by the Hatfords to London so he had to be written off as well.

Stuart asked Neil if he’d like to come with him to London but Neil refused, not trusting any of the adults and their shady deals. However he did ask that it should be spread as such, that Neil was in London under Hatford’s protection.

Stuart and the FBI gave Neil a new identity, his current one. Because he was college aged, they had him enrolled in a college of his choice. In the beginning Neil did a fine job of keeping under radar but Exy called to him. He initially watched the games to see Kevin but he became frustrated when their goalie in the first half who was brilliant, sometimes just chose not to care. The others played on various levels according to their skill, but Andrew’s performance did not match his skill and it frustrated Neil to no end. It frustrated Neil that Andrew Minyard was wasting his talent and opportunity whereas Neil had nothing. His talent was dubious and the opportunity was gone forever. Which is why he found out information about Andrew and started emailing him from his extra email id.

The next part Neil got to know from Riko’s rambling, which he was doing a lot in the short few hours they spent together.

The Ravens could continue in Tetsuji’s absence, they had other capable coaches. It was Riko who started becoming the problem. Within a span of 4 months or so he’d lost Kevin and Tetsuji. He found out what happened with his family despite the strict warning that he was not supposed to. He found out that it was the Butcher whose shootout caused the upheaval. He began to obsess over that case, over the third foreign party, over the son who escaped. So when a few months later he saw the very same son in the same frame as Kevin Day, he had to come and see that.

It was too easy after that. Reveal his secrets, isolate him and when everyone was busy playing, take him away. It worked. Almost. If Andrew hadn’t gone back again to check on Neil, he could’ve easily gift wrapped and delivered Neil to The Moriyamas.

This whole story was told in appropriately filtered parts to appropriate people. Neil had to tell a lot of it to all of them because Riko had exposed his secrets. But he maintained that ‘someone else fucked something else up within the Moriyamas and it benefited me’ ruse to them. The details about the FBI and his Uncle and the final shootout weren’t for everybody to hear. 

“Whoo, what a wild night,” Allison commented. 

“We did nothing; we lost the game, sat on our asses, waiting for Andrew to get Neil back and listened to  _ his  _ wild night.” Dan replied.

“Is it true? Riko smells like sulfur up close?” Jack asked.

“I hope Fuckface’s sporting a similar shiner on his cheekbone,” Seth nodded at his face.

“How do we make sure Neil doesn’t get taken away again?” Renee asked and everybody became silent. “Not Riko, but what if someone else came?”

“This would all be easier if Riko never told anybody he saw Neil.” Andrew pulled a knife out.

“No Andrew!”

Andrew put his knife back in. 

Kevin raised a question, “How many hours it has been since Neil left Riko’s company?”

“Not more than three hours,” Neil replied.

“What’s the likelihood he’s already told someone?”

“Zero,” Neil said with conviction. He pulled out a sleek mobile from his pocket. Nicky laughed and thumped his back.

“Alright so we have until he goes back to Evermore.” Abby came from the door with delivery boxes in her hand that the ravenous Foxes fell over instantly. 

Coach asked Neil if he was okay going back to the dorm or would he like to stay with him. Neil frowned. 

“He’s coming with us actually. We’re gonna have a boys night in, aren’t we?” Andrew nudged at Neil. 

“Sure, boys night in sounds great!” Neil dutifully replied, relieved at not having to make the choice and they left. They went up at the Fox tower. Neil had been there once, when he was panicking about Riko coming. It seemed so far away. But he hadn’t been in their dorm. Andrew asked after Neil’s leg before they went in. Neil looked surprised but said it was just from sitting still for a long time. It was in the dorm Neil told the rest of the story. 

“The best possible course for you right now is to actually go to your uncle, be under their protection,” Aaron said.

Neil shook his head. “If I contact him, I’m giving up on my identity as Neil Josten. Then the Moriyamas will know for sure I’m-” He swallowed, “I’m my father’s son. And if I go there then what did I escape from? Uncle Stuart is a mobster as well. I’m back in that life. And-” Neil paused. “I like my degree, I liked helping Coach. I don’t actually want to leave.”

“Aw,” Nicky coo-ed and nudged Andrew who was sitting by his side. Andrew refused to react; he reminded himself that they didn’t know about his crush on Josten.

Kevin spoke, “I’ll call Jean, take a stock of things there at Evermore. You call your uncle-” Neil protested but Kevin raised his hand up to silence him. “Look, he needs to know that somebody from Moriyama came for you and almost took you away. Call, see what he says.”

Neil huffed and said, “I’ll have to go back to my dorm then.”

“What for?”

“I don’t have my mobster uncle’s number just casually saved in a device notorious for being lost or stolen, I’m not dumb,” Neil replied levelly. “I have his contact information stored in a safe place.” 

“You sure you can go by yourself? Do you want any of us to come with you?” Nicky asked, looking very concerned. Neil hesitated but eventually shook his head. Kevin went inside to call Jean. 

Aaron got up, muttering about unnecessary drama and some biology assignment. Nicky stayed there, lost in thought. Andrew wondered if he should’ve accompanied Neil to his room but he was still riding a bit high. He knew they needed to have a conversation but it wasn’t one he wanted to have in this condition. He got up and went to sleep. It had been a hectic, almost sleepless week and the adrenaline of the game and Neil was crashing down on him. He figured whatever Neil and Kevin would find out, can wait for tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only the last chapter and epilogue to go!! I kinda wish I could just post it all at once but NOO I have a schedule. :|


	12. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gratuitous use of F bombs.

Andrew woke up at 6 in the morning. Cursing every object he saw, he reluctantly got up and decided to have some extra sugary cereals that Kevin wasn’t allowed to bitch at him about and went out into the common room. 

Something stirred on the couch. On reflex Andrew picked up the nearest thing he could find and hurled it in that direction. Fortunately, it was just Neil sleeping on the couch. Unfortunately, the thing Andrew hurled was Aaron’s thick bio textbook and Neil woke up with a gasp.

“Ow,” he exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot on his stomach where the book hit.

“Good morning,” Andrew deadpanned, quite unapologetic and made his way to the small kitchenette.

Neil sat up, rubbing his eyes. Fucker looked extremely cute and Andrew wanted to strangle something.

“What are you eating?” Neil asked with a groggy voice.

“Fruit loops.” 

“Have any actual fruit?” Neil replied and Andrew stared at him. What kind of monster he was crushing on?

Neil got up and sleepily made his way to the counter. He was wearing Aaron’s clothes.

“You couldn’t get your own clothes when you went to your room?”

“Forgot about it. Other things on m’mind.” Neil explained and flopped on the seat. Andrew pointed at the fruit basket that held some of Kevin’s stuff. 

Neil looked at it and looked back at Andrew again, looking a little more awake. “I spoke to Uncle Stuart last night.”

“Must’ve been quite the early morning call for your Uncle Stuart.”

“Eh, if I woke him, he didn’t say so”, Neil shrugged. “I think he was more concerned with the Riko part.”

Neil paused, wanting Andrew to ask. But he was about to be disappointed. Andrew crunched on his fruit loops, straight from the box and maintained the eye contact. Neil smiled, unconcerned by the apparent chaotic behaviour and continued.

“He mostly said ‘I told you so’ and ‘this wouldn’t have happened if you were here’ but he agreed with Aaron that the best course would be for me to go to London.”

“I assume you’ve packed your bags then,” Andrew said.

“You want me gone that bad?” Neil asked, cocking a single eyebrow.

“Yes, it would save me the trouble of burying your body,” Andrew deadpanned.

“Why, I thought we bonded over having all my life’s secrets exposed to you!”

Andrew threw a fist full of fruit loops at him. Neil immediately ducked and laughed, almost as if he anticipated it. Suddenly Nicky came into the common room facetiming someone, meaning Eric.

“Oh my god, you guys are awake?” Nicky exclaimed when he noticed them. “I’m sorry I thought nobody would be here.”

“This is the shittiest starting to any day, ever,” Andrew put in his two cents.

“Hey uh, sorry?” Neil addressed Nicky. “Who’re you talking to so early in the morning?”

“Uh my boyfriend? Omg you don’t know about him!” Nicky turned the phone around, “Eric, say hi to Neil!” A handsome face waved cheerily at Neil. Neil waved back.

Nicky told Eric he’ll call soon and hung up. “I can’t believe I never told you about Eric! He’s so cute, we’re gonna get married one day. Remind me to show you photos later! As the only resident gay here I consider it my sole responsibility to show every guy my boyfriend’s photo and make them weep because they are heterosexual.”

Neil raised his brows and just said, “Aaallrightt.”

Nicky gasped, “Omg, I’m sorry I just assumed. Which way do you swing?”

“I don’t swing any way,” Neil automatically answered and then bit his lip. Andrew felt he could burn a hole in Neil’s skull, he was staring so hard at him. What do you mean you don’t swing, you shameless flirt? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Andrew felt like he should drag Neil away from there and demand answers about every single thing he’d done and said. God, he hated him so much!

“Hey, hey pinocchio,” Andrew again threw a fruit loop at the back of Neil’s head to draw his attention back to the conversation they were having.

“Explain what you’re going to do now. What did your Uncle dear say?”

“Oh his Uncle’s taking care of everything,” Nicky interjected happily. “He told us last night. It’s done! Riko will not touch Neil’s single pretty hair.”

Neil frowned at Nicky for not letting him explain but he shrugged at Andrew. “Yeah. It’s a done matter. I’m safe. Once again.” 

Nicky clapped in happiness and Neil smiled at Andrew, but that smile was tight. Andrew had spent almost two months searching and documenting every smile of Neil. He had never seen that one directed at himself before. 

Andrew realised two things: a. There was something Neil hadn’t told the others about the phone call last night and b. Neil had only ever laughed very openly in front of Andrew. 

Andrew couldn’t believe this guy was real. 

He didn’t have a chance at getting Neil alone again. People had their own things, everybody scattered by breakfast time. Neil didn’t stay for much long either, almost bolting away at the first chance he got. By lunch time however, Andrew got to know what happened after he went to sleep, in parts.

Kevin had called Jean and asked him about Riko before he was coming to Palmetto. Jean at first was quite unwilling to share; he was angry with Kevin for escaping and leaving Jean alone to face Riko’s wrath. The call had turned quite sentimental with stunted expression of feelings from both sides and Kevin’s throat tightened as he was recounting the call to Andrew. Andrew had to flick Kevin’s forehead to get him to the point quick. Once Jean got to know what Riko wanted to do, he got mad and shared more. How he was abysmal in the last months, how badly he took it out on Jean and others when they lost. His glee since Sunday and sudden activity this past week. Riko hadn’t told Jean what he was doing except saying he was going to pay Palmetto a little visit. He kept saying he was going to make everything right, everything just as it was. Jean had assumed it was about Kevin. 

Jean knew about Neil, or rather Nathaniel, the son of Butcher. But Kevin maintained the popular version saying, Neil was actually an innocent child caught in crossfire and Riko was trying to reignite the family feuds by bringing Neil to his father and brother. They talked a lot more, going back and forth, but Jean agreed to warn Kevin if Riko was going to do something again. 

Neil’s conversation with his Uncle was told by Neil to others and by them to Andrew so Andrew knew to trust only 70% of the details. Neil was a master of lying with just enough truth in it that you never suspect it. But he got to know that Stuart was going to wait for a day. If Riko’s going to snitch to his family about Neil then they will definitely clarify it first with Stuart. In that case, Stuart agreed to tell them that Neil was still under his protection and he was in Palmetto, finishing his college. 

And if nothing happens in a day then it can be assumed that Riko will try to move on his own and try to get Neil again before going to his family. In that case, Stuart agreed to call the Moriyamas himself and demand the answer as to why their youngest son tried to kidnap his nephew. 

Both the cases would turn on Riko and Neil would get away scot free. But none of them said anything about Neil’s expressions, his tone, how  _ he _ reacted to the plan, or to giving up whatever weak cover he had.

Andrew debated whether he should stalk Neil and suss the truth out of him but he decided against it. Neil was a liar and it wasn’t Andrew’s job to steer him on the path of honesty. And how much did he want to run after Neil? He was safe now, he could go back to keeping a low profile. The Foxes were too much trouble and if Neil was sane, he would forget he ever knew Andrew or Kevin. 

After lunch time, they had practice. Dan came up to him before the coach arrived and asked him if he knew Neil was coming. Andrew raised his eyebrows at her. 

“He was really helpful, okay!” Dan threw her hands up. “Coach needs help, he handles too many things by himself.”

“Danielle, Neil Josten is just a student here. He came last time because we had a favour to settle. And we lost that game. Our team is going nowhere, don’t put the burden of expectation on Mr Lying firepants. Out of my way now.”

…

It was Sunday night. Andrew was in the basement gym, punching the shit out of dummy bags. Renee was sitting on the bench by the wall, occasionally pointing out corrections in his form. Andrew had a tendency of giving in to his anger while doing strength exercise and Renee offered to spot him sometimes even when he was not doing weights, to avoid dangerous strains. In between his punch, Renee lightly cleared her throat and Andrew stopped. 

A voice came from the door, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Andrew turned around, breathing hard, to see Neil standing and fidgeting. He could feel Neil’s gaze going over his tank top clad body, taking in the arm bands that Andrew was still wearing and back to his face. There was no one else in the gym so Renee got up and said good bye before Andrew could respond.

Neil was shifting his weight from one foot to another, growing uncomfortable under Andrew’s heavy silent gaze. But Neil was also not a coward so he stepped forward and said,

“My uncle called half an hour ago. He uh- he had this plan. He was going to wait a day in cas-”

“I know. Nicky told me about the plan.” 

An almost imperceptible pause. “Yes, my uncle came up with it. And he called me again half an hour ago to tell me the plan worked. Riko called the family to tell them about my existence. His brother, rightfully suspicious, called my uncle to ask for clarification. My uncle pretended to be properly angry, said all the right words, and turned the whole thing on Riko’s head. Ichirou apologised for bothering Stuart and said it will not happen again. So no mobster family on my tail now.” Hands clasped behind his back, he rocked on his feet. The harsh white light of the gym wasn’t doing his pale face any favours and he looked like a ghost. It was a very appropriate word for Neil, Andrew thought. A ghost. Ready to disappear by the morning light at any moment.

“You’re hiding something,” Andrew said, slowly unwrapping the bandage around his knuckles. Neil’s eyes drew down and fixed on the motion. He didn’t reply. Andrew walked up to him and tilted his face up to meet his eyes. He pressed two fingers against Neil’s pulse; it was jumping like a rabbit.

“You’re hiding something,” Andrew repeated in a lower voice. He didn’t ask for what it was; he just wanted Neil to know that he knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth.

The full force of ice blue gaze was on him and Andrew saw Neil understood that. He understood that as an invitation to either confess or not confess. 

Neil chose the first. He spoke in a similar low voice, “In return for doing this favour Uncle Stuart made me promise I would spend my holidays in London with him. Said something about getting to know his nephew better and it would help keep up the front that I was actually taken in by the Hatfords. All perfectly reasonable things.”

“And you didn’t tell the others about this because…?”

Neil bit his lower lip. Something clicked in Andrew’s mind.

“You think you won’t come back.”

Neil shook his head weakly, “No, he said holidays like Christmas and Summer, which means I’ll come back for the next semester.”

“Let me rephrase. You think you won’t come back as a free man. You think your Uncle would convince you to join the family business.”

Neil let out a shuddering breath and he looked somewhere far beyond Andrew’s face. Andrew felt a little relief on being released from Neil’s gaze. 

Neil’s voice was resigned when he spoke after a minute. “There’s no normal life for me. I have a target branded into my back. Either I join my uncle and have some actual protection or take my chances as a civilian.” Neil laughed a little, “And you won’t be available every time to save me.”

Why not? Was the immediate response Andrew’s horrible little brain provided. Him and his fucking saviour complex. Saving someone had never turned out well for Andrew. Yet here he was, seriously contemplating ways to save Neil from himself.

Neil kept talking, “The thing is, Uncle won’t even have to force me. I think I’ll say yes if he asks and he’ll definitely ask. I have nothing to look forward to beyond these four years. I have no future. I almost put Kevin in danger by being myself.”

“Kevin doesn’t need your help getting himself endangered. He becomes punchable the moment he talks. And stop acting like an angsty 13 year old.” Andrew thrust his knuckle bindings in Neil’s hands and used his free hand to point into Neil’s chest.

“What you need is a reason to come back. You say you have no future, fucking create one. Get your fucking degree, get a job. Use your head and the useless exy knowledge it’s filled with to do something. Assist Wymack, whatever.”

“I don’t want to bring any trouble to Foxes.”

“The Foxes can get into plenty trouble by themselves, thank you very much. Stop being a fucking martyr. You stopped running when you decided to go to the FBI. You became a free man. Act. Like. It.” 

He waited for a moment to see if Neil agreed. But he just kept looking at Andrew’s face helplessly. Like he had already signed the proverbial contract in his blood. Like he had already sold his soul. 

Andrew snatched the bindings from his hands and walked past him, not wanting to be a part of Neil Josten Pity Party anymore. It was unlikely he would ever see Neil again. But he was fine with it.

There was no more mystery, there was no more danger. As far as Andrew was concerned, this matter was closed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or was it???
> 
> Epilogue remaining, coming tomorrow.


	13. EPILOGUE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hereeee weeeee goooo! Last chapter my bois, it's been an amazing ride.

Andrew couldn’t tell how he got roped into being the one to drive Neil to the airport.  
“You spoiled little brat, have you ever heard of this thing called public transport?” Andrew spat, rubbing his hands and trying to get feeling back into them before taking the steering wheel.  
Neil quickly shut the door and blasted the heater on. “I’ve ridden public transport in more countries than you can name, jerk.”  
“Afghanistan, Albania, Alegria, Angola, Antigua, Argentina…”  
“Shut up and drive,” Neil lightly slapped his shoulder.  
Andrew stepped on the accelerator and drove towards the airport. He wished he could step on the accelerator but the roads were slippery from last night’s sleet. Neil started checking his messages.  
“Coach already received around 20 videos of players for the next year. He’s sending them to me, Dan and Kevin. Ohh I can’t wait to see!”  
“Wymack bet Abby that Kevin and you will choose the same players,” Andrew informed.  
“Damn it, you’re not supposed to tell me!” Neil laughed.  
“I’m more surprised Abby took the bet.”

They continued talking, which consisted mostly of Neil reading out goodbye messages from other Foxes. Neil told them he was going to London for Christmas when Matt asked if Neil would like to come to his home for the holiday. Andrew could see how badly Neil wanted to. Neil and Matt became pretty close friends over the last two months and honestly, Andrew would’ve gotten jealous if not for Dan. But Neil had to tell him he was going to London.  
Unsurprisingly, no one else saw anything concerning about it. His uncle had clearly helped him out of the tough spot and he was the only living relative Neil had. The fact that Neil had a few weeks to practice his poker face did not help. Which is why the goodbyes were cheery and light hearted. The holidays had already started and most of them had already left. Neil and the monsters had been living in the Columbia house for the past two days.  
Neil’s flight was very early morning and Andrew grumbled and grumbled about having to wake up early. Well, Nicky had offered to drive him but Neil didn’t need to know that. There were lots of things Neil didn’t need to know.  
Neil didn’t need to know Andrew made Kevin ask Wymack if Neil can help out more often. He didn’t need to know that he had helped bridging the gap between many groups within the Foxes a little bit. He didn’t need to know that Andrew missed abramwh’s emails.  
Neil didn’t need to know Andrew often thought about their kiss.  
Neil didn’t need to know that Andrew was genuinely worried Neil might not come back.  
Andrew was getting frustrated by the minute. He didn’t know what was going to happen with them. He didn’t know if he wanted anything to happen with them. The holiday traffic en route to the airport was not helping.  
“The steering wheel’s gonna asphyxiate,” Neil informed.  
“I’m imagining it’s your neck,” Andrew half-lied. Neil grimaced. “I’m gonna have to find a similar murderous henchman in London whom I can pay to threaten me day in day out.”  
“Strange way to say you’re gonna miss me, Josten.” The words were out before Andrew could stop them. Thankfully the car was stuck in traffic so Andrew could look at Neil’s face immediately. Big mistake.  
Neil’s face was soft, “Or I could just call you?”  
“What will we talk about?”  
“Anything? Everything? I have never struggled to talk to you.”  
Sometimes, Andrew was painfully reminded that he was still a teenager. He didn’t want to believe it; too many things happened in his life that forced him to grow up real fast. Too many things fucked his emotions up for the past several years. Andrew thought he should’ve at least been spared the drama of ‘he likes me- he likes me not’.  
Andrew took his right hand off the wheel and put the two fingers over Neil’s pulse. It was something he’d started doing. Like he was detecting lies in Neil’s words. Like figuring out the inner workings of a clock by listening to its tick. Neil turned his neck slightly to give him better access. Andrew’s fingers were cold on his skin and Neil shivered.  
Fuck it, life’s too short. Andrew unbuckled his seat belt by his left hand and slid his right hand around Neil’s neck and leaned in.  
“Yes or no?”  
Neil slightly leaned back. Andrew froze.  
“This going to be like the last time, when you kissed me and didn’t talk about it for two months?” Neil asked.  
“This is a two way street, Josten,” Andrew spoke but he wasn’t moving a muscle otherwise. Neil leaned in but stopped again within hair’s breadth.  
“It’s not even the best time, I mean I’m leaving right now.” Neil’s breath was hot on Andrew’s lips.  
“But you’re coming back too.”  
Neil didn’t say anything. Andrew went back to his seat and the traffic moved a bit. Five minutes later, it halted again. Andrew reminded himself that he was not a dickhead anymore and however strongly he felt like pushing Neil out of the car and forcing him to walk the next half mile to the airport, he must resist the urge.  
“Andrew,” Neil called softly. “Would you be my reason to come back?”  
Andrew swallowed and met Neil’s gaze. He took in his brown curls, his blue eyes, the tilt of his mouth, the line of his elegant neck, his stupid exy sweater. “I’m not the answer to your problems.”  
Neil’s head shook. “I don’t want you to save me. I want you to kiss me and tell me it’ll be alright.”  
This time, it was Neil who had unbuckled and leaned across to Andrew’s seat. Unhesitating, Andrew took his face in both hands and found his mouth. It was a heated kiss which Andrew broke for a moment to tell flailing Neil to hold his shoulders for support. Neil smiled softly and Andrew tried to capture that smile by immediately kissing him again.  
Neil’s hands roamed on his shoulders and he broke the kiss to ask if he could touch Andrew’s hair. Andrew nodded, “don’t pull on it.” Neil’s long fingers quickly wound through Andrew’s hair and Andrew gasped against Neil’s mouth.  
Horns started to blare behind them and they had to break apart for good. The traffic had moved and some asshole was trying to cut Andrew off. Andrew stepped on his accelerator and turned his window down in the bitter cold just to flip the guy off. Neil was back in his seat, laughing.  
“We have no sense of occasion,” Neil said.  
“Occasions are a social construct.”  
“All of them?”  
“All of them.”  
They caught a lucky break (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) and reached the airport without any more traffic stops. Neil only had his duffel bag in the back seat so Andrew didn’t have to get off to open the boot. Neil leaned back and grabbed the bag but didn’t make a move to get off.  
Andrew volunteered in an uncharacteristic case of kindness, “We’ll be alright, sinnerman.”  
Neil extended his left hand to find Andrew’s right on the steering wheel. He hovered just for a moment to gauge Andrew’s reaction and finding it was okay, he flipped the hand over. Running his thumb down the palm, it came to rest on Andrew’s pulse. Andrew knew it was jumping, in a similar fashion to what he would find Neil’s to be everytime he found it. Oh. Was that the reason?  
Satisfied with whatever he found, Neil repeated, “We’ll be alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if I, in theory, wrote a short sequel/spin off based on Neil in London, would you guys read it?

**Author's Note:**

> I've tried my best to write Andrew half medicated. However if you think any part of it is wrongly depicted or offensive, please tell me so. I can't change much but I'll add that in tags or in the warnings.


End file.
